principio
Spanish, noun
principio is spelled P-R-I-N-C-I-P-I-O (9 letters) and appears 126 times per million words in written Spanish, the 683rd most frequent Spanish word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Principio is a Spanish masculine noun meaning “principle” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is also a first-person singular present indicative of principiar. With an accent, principió is a different word: “third-person singular preterite indicative of principiar”. The Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) defines it as “Momento o punto en que algo empieza; comienzo, inicio; primer instante de un ser”.
What does principio mean in English?
noun
- 1
masculineprinciple
- 2
masculinecause, origin
- 3
masculinebeginning, start, outset, get-go
al principio
verb
- 1
first-person singular present indicative of principiar
verb
- 1
third-person singular preterite indicative of principiar
Source: English Wiktionary, Spanish section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How Spanish dictionaries define it
noun: 1. Momento o punto en que algo empieza; comienzo, inicio; primer instante de un ser. 2. Supuesto fundamental, base o fundamento sobre los cuales se construye un razonamiento o un cuerpo de conocimientos. 3. Regla, norma o idea básica que dirige el pensamiento, la conducta o la moral. 4. Esencia, causa u origen, particularmente si produce una cualidad dada.
The definition in the Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario), in Spanish.
Source: Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of principio
- principios plural
Source: English Wiktionary and Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to principio
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is principio in Spanish?
principio appears 126 times per million words in written Spanish.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).