لَامٌ is a gen. n., applying to little and to much, or to few or many; (S, TA;) to what is a sing. and to what is a pl. (TA.) It may therefore be rendered A saying, &c.; and sayings, or words: see an ex. voce أَفْكَلُ, in art. فكل. ― -b2- كَلَامٌ Speech; something spoken; [diction; language;] parlance; talk; discourse: (Msb, &c.:) a saying: a say: something said: in grammar, a sentence. الكَلِمُ الطَّيِّبُ: see طَيِّتٌ. ― -b3- كَلَامٌ: also, a quasi-inf. n. for تكليم, sometimes governing as a verb, [like the inf. n.,] accord. to some of the grammarians; as in the following ex.: “ قالوا كلامك هنداً وهى مصغية
يشفيك قلت صحيح ذاك لو كانا
” (Sharh Shudhoor edh-Dhahab.) See إِِسْمُ مَصْدَرٍ. ― -b4- عِلْمُ الكَلَامِ [The theology of the Muslims;] a science in which one investigates the being and attributes of God, and the conditions of possible things with respect to creation and restitution, according to the rule of El-Islám; which last restriction is for the exclusion of the theology of the philosophers. (KT.)