principle
prin·ci·ple/ˈpɹɪn.sɪ.pəl/noun, verb
principle is spelled P-R-I-N-C-I-P-L-E, 3 syllables: prin·ci·ple. The wrong spelling people search most is priciple: about 190 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 61 of all searches for the word. Principle is a noun meaning “A fundamental assumption, fundamental law or guiding belief”. The plural of principle is principles.
How many letters and syllables are in principle?
| Letters | 9: P-R-I-N-C-I-P-L-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: prin·ci·ple |
| In writing | 22 times per million words; the 4,015th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, priciple, about 190 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell principle?
Principle is spelled P-R-I-N-C-I-P-L-E. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 61 of the searches for principle in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is principle?
Principle appears 22 times per million words in written English, the 4,015th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce principle?
- US /ˈpɹɪn.sɪ.pəl/
- US [ˈpɹɪn.sɪ.pɫ̩]
- US /ˈpɹɪn.sə.pəl/
Principle has 3 syllables, split prin·ci·ple in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-principle.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with principle
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: principal (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with principle?
One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as principle from its last stressed vowel (/ɪnsɪpəl/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of principle
- principles plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- principling participle, present
- principled participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does principle mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A fundamental assumption, fundamental law or guiding belief.
We need some sort of principles to reason from.
- 2
A rule used to choose among solutions to a problem.
The principle of least privilege holds that a process should only receive the permissions it needs.
- 3
Moral rule or aspect.
I don't doubt your principles.
- 4
A rule or law of nature, or the basic idea on how the laws of nature are applied.
Bernoulli's principle
- 5
A fundamental essence, particularly one producing a given quality.
Many believe that life is the result of some vital principle.
- 6
A chemical compound within plant or animal tissue that is characteristic of it and more or less peculiar to it, such that it defines the character of that tissue from a human viewpoint (as for example nicotine in tobacco).
the active principle
- 7
A source, or origin; that from which anything proceeds; fundamental substance or energy; primordial substance; ultimate element, or cause.
- 8
An original faculty or endowment.
verb
- 1
To equip with principles; to establish, or fix, in certain principles; to impress with any tenet or rule of conduct.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate principle?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of principle: princ..
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Principle in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | principe |
| German | Grundsatz, Prinzip , Naturgesetz |
| Portuguese | princípio |
| Spanish | principio |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does principle come from?
From Middle English principle, from Old French principe, from Latin prīncipium (“beginning, foundation”), from prīnceps (“first”). By surface analysis, prīmus (“first”) + -ceps (“catcher”); the former ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *preh₂- (“before”); see also prince.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).