attrib.
1
- first in order of importance; main首要的; 主要的：
the country's principal cities.
该国的重要城市。
2
- (of money) denoting an original sum invested or lent本金的, 母金的：
the principal amount of your investment.
你投资的本金。
1
- the person with the highest authority or most important position in an organization, institution, or group（机构、组织、团体的）首领; 长官, 首长; 负责人：
a design consultancy whose principal is based in San Francisco.
负责人以旧金山为基地的设计咨询公司。
1.1
- the head of a school, college, or other educational institution（中学、学院等的）校长; 院长。
1.2
- the leading performer in a concert, play, ballet, or opera（音乐会、戏剧、芭蕾舞剧、歌剧中的）主角演员。
1.3
- Music the leading player in each section of an orchestra【乐】（管弦乐队每一乐器组的）首席演奏者。
1.4
- (in certain professions) a fully qualified practitioner（某些行业）完全合格的开业者。
1.5
- (in the UK) a senior civil servant in charge of a particular section〈英〉（负责某一部门的）高级公务员。
2
- mass noun a sum of money lent or invested on which interest is paid母金, 本金; 可生息资本：
the winners are paid from the interest without even touching the principal.
中奖者奖金从利息中支付, 无须动本金。
3
- a person for whom another acts as an agent or representative委托人, 本人, 被代理人：
stockbrokers in Tokyo act as agents rather than as principals.
东京的股票经纪人只是代理人而不是委托人。
3.1
- Law the person directly responsible for a crime【律】主犯, 首犯。
3.2
- historical each of the combatants in a duel〈史〉决斗者。
4
- a main rafter supporting purlins（支撑檩的）主椽。
5
- an organ stop sounding a main register of open flue pipes typically an octave above the diapason（管风琴的）主音栓。
USAGE
On the confusion of principal and principle, see usage at PRINCIPLE.
派生词
principalship
noun词源
Middle English: via Old French from Latin principalis 'first， original'， from princeps, princip- 'first， chief'.