Tenet
Etymology
From Latin tenet, “he holds,” from tenēre, “to hold.” A tenet is literally something “held” to be true — the word is the bare Latin verb form, freezing the act of holding a belief into a noun.
noun · /TEN-it/
A principle or belief held as true, especially one central to a system of thought.
What it names
A foundational commitment of a group or doctrine — a belief that is held rather than proven, and that the rest of the thinking rests upon.
Example
A core tenet of the field is that correlation alone never establishes cause.
Related idea
A tenet is a belief held to be true; a precept is a rule that prescribes how to act.