<blockquote>
  <p>原则 is principle of personal conduct</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Example: </p>

<p>做人要有(原则) = A man has to have (principle)</p>

<p>工作至上是我的(原则) = My (principle) is works always come first</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>原理 is principle of physics </p>
</blockquote>

<p>Example: </p>

<p>利用槓桿(原理) = Using the (principle) of leverage</p>

<p>利用虹吸(原理) = Using the (principle) of siphon</p>

<ul>
<li><p>"I know the 原理 of something" means I know the reason why something works</p></li>
<li><p>"I know someone's 原则" means I know what someone would or would not do base on his principle (personal believe and conviction)</p></li>
</ul>

<p>The 原则 (principle) of insurance companies is "to try their hardest to avoid paying their customers" (that's what they do as an unwritten rule) </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-07T12:10:52.537Z
2018-07-07T12:32:32.563Z
2018-07-07T12:32:32.563Z
Tang Ho
<p>Very few words translate one-to-one between languages, and they are usually very basic like you/me/water or simply loanwords. European language speakers often get confused on this topic after learning some other European language (which essentially shares a huge set of the same semantic fields with minuscule variations).</p>

<p>What is bundled together as "principle" in English (or rather, all IE languages sharing this post-Latin loanword) is not a single idea.</p>

<p>原则 is "principle" as in "man has his principles" - basic rules of behaviour". By choice.</p>

<p>原理 is "principle" in the sense "doctrine, theoretic base etc". By nature.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-08T04:02:24.023Z
2018-07-08T04:02:24.023Z
Vitaly Osipov
<p>I thought that could be a simple distinction.  </p>

<p><strong>原理</strong>: <em>theory</em>, <em>principles/fundamentals in science</em>; </p>

<p>For example, </p>

<ul>
<li>a cardinal principle: 根本的原理;</li>
</ul>

<p><strong>原则</strong>: <em>principle</em>, <em>rules</em>; </p>

<p>For example, </p>

<ul>
<li>agree in principle: 原则上同意</li>
</ul>

<p><strong>The key is that in English the word principle can be used to denote both scientific theories and rules to regulate ourselves. Well, in Chinese, we separate it into two words: 原理 and 原则.</strong> </p>

<p>Hope this could help. </p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-08T02:36:10.793Z
2018-07-08T02:36:10.793Z
dan
<p>原理: 理 is for the physical principles of things.</p>

<p>原则: 则 is for the rules of the society/human.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-07T18:11:11.757Z
2018-07-07T18:11:11.757Z
Aria Ax
<p>Previous answers are quite complete. I want to provide some additional information on &quot;原则&quot;.</p>
<p>原则 also has a meaning close to &quot;generally&quot; or &quot;usually&quot;. Means that a rule applies to most of the cases, but, importantly, it can have some exceptions.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>例句：原则上，我们不接受一年级学生的转专业申请。</p>
<p>Example: Generally, we don't approve applications for change of major for first-year students.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This sentence means that &quot;there can be some exceptions for first-year students&quot;.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-08T23:20:18.467Z
2018-07-08T23:20:18.467Z
2020-06-17T09:50:11.587Z
Weikeng Chen
<p>In addition to what others have pointed out (that 原则 &amp; 原理 both could refer to "principle" or "rule"), 原则 usually refers to concrete principles and guidelines, whereas 原理 refers to the more abstract, theoretical, and/or foundational principles. Newton's book, <em>Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica</em>, for example, is "自然哲学的数学原理" in Chinese.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-19T15:25:43.913Z
2018-07-19T15:25:43.913Z
YCode
<p>See title. Both of these translate as "principle" and I'm struggling to see how they are different. Thanks in advance.</p>

<difference>
What is the difference between 原则 and 原理？
# What is the difference between 原则 and 原理？

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-07-07)

See title. Both of these translate as "principle" and I'm struggling to see how they are different. Thanks in advance.

**Tags:** difference


---

## 6 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2018-07-07. Score: 6

> 原则 is principle of personal conduct

Example:

做人要有(原则) = A man has to have (principle)

工作至上是我的(原则) = My (principle) is works always come first

> 原理 is principle of physics

Example:

利用槓桿(原理) = Using the (principle) of leverage

利用虹吸(原理) = Using the (principle) of siphon

* "I know the 原理 of something" means I know the reason why something works
* "I know someone's 原则" means I know what someone would or would not do base on his principle (personal believe and conviction)

The 原则 (principle) of insurance companies is "to try their hardest to avoid paying their customers" (that's what they do as an unwritten rule)


---

### Answer by username_2 on 2018-07-08. Score: 2

Very few words translate one-to-one between languages, and they are usually very basic like you/me/water or simply loanwords. European language speakers often get confused on this topic after learning some other European language (which essentially shares a huge set of the same semantic fields with minuscule variations).

What is bundled together as "principle" in English (or rather, all IE languages sharing this post-Latin loanword) is not a single idea.

原则 is "principle" as in "man has his principles" - basic rules of behaviour". By choice.

原理 is "principle" in the sense "doctrine, theoretic base etc". By nature.


---

### Answer by username_3 on 2018-07-08. Score: 1

I thought that could be a simple distinction.

**原理**: *theory*, *principles/fundamentals in science*;

For example,

* a cardinal principle: 根本的原理;

**原则**: *principle*, *rules*;

For example,

* agree in principle: 原则上同意

**The key is that in English the word principle can be used to denote both scientific theories and rules to regulate ourselves. Well, in Chinese, we separate it into two words: 原理 and 原则.**

Hope this could help.

Good luck!


---

### Answer by username_4 on 2018-07-07. Score: 1

原理: 理 is for the physical principles of things.

原则: 则 is for the rules of the society/human.


---

### Answer by username_5 on 2018-07-08. Score: 0

Previous answers are quite complete. I want to provide some additional information on "原则".

原则 also has a meaning close to "generally" or "usually". Means that a rule applies to most of the cases, but, importantly, it can have some exceptions.

> 例句：原则上，我们不接受一年级学生的转专业申请。
>
> Example: Generally, we don't approve applications for change of major for first-year students.

This sentence means that "there can be some exceptions for first-year students".


---

### Answer by username_6 on 2018-07-19. Score: 0

In addition to what others have pointed out (that 原则 & 原理 both could refer to "principle" or "rule"), 原则 usually refers to concrete principles and guidelines, whereas 原理 refers to the more abstract, theoretical, and/or foundational principles. Newton's book, *Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica*, for example, is "自然哲学的数学原理" in Chinese.


---

