Loans & credit
Principal
The actual amount you borrowed, before any interest is added on top.
The principal is the core loan amount, the money that actually landed in your account.
Interest is charged on the outstanding principal, so the faster you shrink it, the less interest you pay.
This is why prepayments early in a loan are so powerful; they attack the principal directly.
For example
Borrow ₹10L and the ₹10L is your principal. Every EMI slowly chips away at it while the rest of the payment covers interest.