principal

/ˈpɹɪnsəpəl//ˈpɹɪnsəp̬əl/

noun

1
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
The chief administrator of a school.
3
The chief executive and chief academic officer of a university or college.
4
A legal person that authorizes another (the agent) to act on their behalf; or on whose behalf an agent or gestor in a negotiorum gestio acts.
“My principal sells metal shims.”
5
The primary participant in a crime.
6
A partner or owner of a business.
7
A diapason, a type of organ stop on a pipe organ.
8
The construction that gives shape and strength to a roof, generally a truss of timber or iron; or, loosely, the most important member of a piece of framing.
9
The first two long feathers of a hawk's wing.
10
One of the turrets or pinnacles of waxwork and tapers with which the posts and centre of a funeral hearse were formerly crowned.
11
An essential point or rule; a principle.
12
A dancer at the highest rank within a professional dance company, particularly a ballet company.
13
A security principal.

1
Primary; most important; first level in importance.
“Smith is the principal architect of this design.”
2
(Latinism) Of or relating to a prince; princely.

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