principal

English

Wikipedia

Alternative forms

• principall (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈprɪnsɪpəl/, /ˈprɪnsəpəl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: prin‧ci‧pal
• Homophone: principle

Adjective

principal (comparative more principal, superlative most principal)

1. Primary; most important in a group.

   Smith is the principal architect of this design.

   The principal cause of the failure was poor planning.

Usage notes

• Not to be confused with principle.

This is generally not used in the comparative or superlative in formal writing, as the meaning is already superlative. However, one may occasionally see, e.g., more principal meaning more likely to be principal or more nearly principal. There are similar issues with unique.

The confused may care to remember that 'The principal alphabetic principle places A before E' as a reminder of the relative spelling.

Translations

primary, main

Arabic: رئيسي (ra’īsi) Chinese: 主要的 (zhǔyào de) Dutch: voornaamste (nl) Esperanto: precipa (eo) Finnish: pää- (fi) French: principal (fr) German: hauptsächlich (de) Hungarian: fő (hu) Irish: Old Irish: prímda Italian: principale (it)

Japanese: 主要な (しゅような, shuyōna) Korean: 주요한 (juyohan) Polish: podstawowy (pl) Portuguese: principal (pt) Romanian: principal (ro) Russian: основной (ru) (osnovnój), главный (ru) (glávnyj) Slovene: gláven (sl) Spanish: principal (es) Swedish: huvudsaklig Vietnamese: chủ yếu (vi), chính (vi)

Noun

principal (countable and uncountable; plural principals)

1. (finance, uncountable) The money originally invested or loaned, on which basis interest and returns are calculated

   A portion of your mortgage payment goes to reduce the principal, and the rest covers interest.

2. (North America, Australian, New Zealand) The principal administrator of a school

   Now you're in trouble! You're going to see the principal for that.

3. (law) One who directs another (the agent) to act on one's behalf

   When an attorney represents a client, the client is the principal who permits the attorney, the client's agent, to act on the client's behalf.

4. (law) The primary participant in a crime
5. A company represented by a sales person

   My principal sells metal shims.

6. (North America) A partner or owner of a business.

Translations

The money originally invested or loaned

Esperanto: kapitalo (eo) French: principal (fr) m. Korean: 원금 (ko) (won keum) Lithuanian: kapitalas (lt)

Manx: bun-argid (gv) m. Polish: kapitał Portuguese: principal (pt) Russian: основной долг (ru) (osnovnój dolg) m., основная сумма (ru) (osnovnája súmma) f.

The principal administrator of a school

Arabic: مدير مدرسة (ar) (mudiir madrasa) m. Bengali: প্রধান শিক্ষক (bn) (Pradhāna Śikṣaka) Chinese: Mandarin: 校長 (cmn), 校长 (cmn) (xiàozhǎng) Dutch: schoolhoofd, rector Esperanto: lernejestro (eo) Finnish: rehtori (fi) French: Ecole primaire: directeur (fr) m., directrice (fr) f. Collège: principal (fr) m. Lycée:proviseur (fr) m. German: Schulvorsteher (de) m., Schuldirektor (de) m. Greenlandic: atuarfiit pisortaat  (kl), atuarfiup pisortaa (kl)

Hebrew: מנהל (he) (menahél) m., מנהלת (he) (menahélet) f. Japanese: 学校長 (ja) (がっこうちょう, gakkōchō) Korean: 학교 교장 (ko) (hakgyo gyojan) Latin: Modern: administrator principalis Classical: rector scholaris nominative, rectoris scholaris genitive Manx: ard-vainshtyr (gv) m., ard-ynseyder (gv) m., ard-venainshtyr (gv) m., ard-er-ynsee (gv) m., ard-ven-ynsee (gv) f. Russian: директор школы (ru) (diréktor škóly) m., директор (ru) (diréktor) m., директриса (ru) (direktrísa) f., (University) ректор (ru) (réktor) m. Spanish: director, principal de escuela, jefe de estudios Swedish: rektor (sv) c. Vietnamese: hiệu trưởng (vi)

A company represented by a salesperson

See also

• headmaster, headmistress
• PITI payment
• principle

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Catalan

Adjective

principal m. and f. (plural principals)

1. main; principal
   • a partir de l'any 1799 Urgias va ser un dels principals animadors del Parnàs Alguerès

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French

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

principal m. (f. principale, m. plural principaux, f. plural principales)

1. main; principal

Derived terms

• plat principal
• principalement

Noun

principal m. (plural principaux; feminine principale, plural principales)

1. what is most important
2. principal (school administrator)
3. (finance) principal (the money originally invested or loaned)

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Galician

Adjective

principal m. and f. (plural principais)

1. main, principal

Related terms

• principalmente

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Portuguese

Adjective

principal m. and f. (plural principais; comparable)

1. main (principal)

This Portuguese entry was created from the translations listed at main. It may be less reliable than other entries, and may be missing parts of speech or additional senses. Please also see principal in the Portuguese Wiktionary. This notice will be removed when the entry is checked. (more information) November 2009

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Romanian

Etymology

French principal, Latin principalis

Adjective

principal ^{4 nom/acc forms}

1. principal, primary, chief, foremost

Declension

declension of principal

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative/ accusative	indefinite	principal		principală	principali	principale
	definite	principalul		principala	principalii	principalele
genitive/ dative	indefinite	principal		principale	principali	principale
	definite	principalului		principalei	principalilor	principalelor

Synonyms

• central

Antonyms

• secundar

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Spanish

Adjective

principal m. and f. (plural principales)

1. main, most important
2. essential

Derived terms

• diagonal principal

Noun

principal m. (plural principales)

1. chief, boss

Related terms

• principio
• principe

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Swedish

Noun

principal c.

1. a principal; one who directs another (the agent) to act on one's behalf

Declension

Declension of principal

	singular		plural
Common	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	principal	principalen	principaler	principalerna
genitive	principals	principalens	principalers	principalernas

See also

• princip
• principiell