a leopard cannot change its spots

a leopard cannot change its spots

English

Etymology

Ultimately from Jeremiah 13:23.[1]

Proverb

a leopard cannot change its spots

1. One cannot change one's own nature.
   • 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The life and death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene i], page 24, column 2:

     King. […] Lyons make Leopards tame. / Mo[wbray]. Yea, but not change his ſpots:

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Jeremiah 13:23, column 1:

     Can the Ethiopian change his ſkinne? or the leopard his ſpots?

   • 1820, Walter Scott, chapter II, in Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], OCLC 230694662, page 60:

     End now all unkindness. Let us put the Jew to ransom, since the leopard will not change his spots, and a Jew he will continue to be.

   • 1918, Johnston McCulley, Thubway Tham's Inthane Moment:

     The leopard cannot change his spots, old boy.

Synonyms

• the wolf may lose his teeth but never his nature
• the fox may grow grey but never good
• you can take the person out of the place, but you can't take the place out of the person

Translations

one cannot change one's own nature

Arabic: please add this translation if you can Armenian: կարմիր կովը կաշին չի փոխի (karmir kovə kašin čʿi pʿoxi), (specifically of Turks) թուրքը մնում է թուրք (tʿurkʿə mnum ē tʿurkʿ) Azerbaijani: qozbeli qəbir düzəldər Chinese: Mandarin: 江山易改，本性難移／江山易改，本性难移 (zh) (jiāngshān yì gǎi, běnxìng nán yí), 狗改不了吃屎 (zh) (gǒu gǎi bùliǎo chī shǐ, literally “a dog can't help eating shit”), 牛牽到北京還是牛／牛牵到北京还是牛 (niú qiān dào Běijīng háishì niú) Czech: starého psa novým kouskům nenaučíš, zvyk je železná košile Danish: please add this translation if you can Dutch: een vos verliest wel zijn haren, maar niet zijn streken, een vos verliest zijn streken niet Esperanto: please add this translation if you can Estonian: küürakat parandab ainult haud (literally “only the grave can cure a hunchback”) Finnish: jäljistään jäniskin tunnetaan (literally “a hare is known by its tracks”) French: chassez le naturel, il revient au galop (fr) (literally “drive off character, it comes back galloping”), on ne se refait pas (fr) Georgian: კუზიანს სამარე გაასწორებსო (ḳuzians samare gaasc̣orebso) German: die Katze lässt das Mausen nicht (de) (literally “a cat won't stop chasing mice”) Greek: ο λύκος κι αν εγέρασε κι άσπρισε το μαλλί του, μήτε τη γνώμη άλλαξε, μήτε την κεφαλή του (o lýkos ki an egérase ki ásprise to mallí tou, míte ti gnómi állaxe, míte tin kefalí tou, literally “Even though the wolf got old and his hair became white, he changed neither his opinion nor his head”) (about old age) Hebrew: הֲיַהֲפֹךְ כּוּשִׁי עוֹרוֹ וְנָמֵר חֲבַרְבֻּרֹתָיו‎ (hayahafókh kúshi 'oró venamer ḥabarbburotav, literally “Will a Cushite change his skin and a leopard his spots?”) Hungarian: kutyából nem lesz szalonna (hu) (literally “out of a dog there will be no lard”) Icelandic: please add this translation if you can Ido: please add this translation if you can Indonesian: rupa boleh berubah, tabiat dibawa mati Irish: briseann an dúchas trí shúile an chait, is treise dúchas ná oiliúint Italian: il lupo perde il pelo ma non il vizio (literally “the wolf can lose its fur but not its bad habits”), chi nasce tondo non può morire quadrato (literally “who was born round can't die square”) Japanese: please add this translation if you can Kannada: please add this translation if you can Khmer: ខ្មែរមិនចោលក្បួន យួនមិនចោលពុត (kmae mɨn caol kbuən yuən mɨn caol put) Korean: 제 버릇 개 못 준다 (je beoreut gae mot junda), 제 버릇 개 줄까 (ko) (je beoreut gae julkka), 개 버릇 남 주나 (gae beoreut nam juna) Latin: please add this translation if you can Lithuanian: vilku gimęs, vilku ir dvės Macedonian: волкот влакно менува, нарав никогаш (volkot vlakno menuva, narav nikogaš, literally “the wolf changes his hair, but never his disposition”) Malay: Jawi: ججق بوليه دهيلڠکن, بلڠ باݢايمان دهيلڠکن؟‎, روڤا بوليه دأوبه, طبيعة دباوا ماتي‎, ايکتن بوليه دأوبه, تاکوق باݢايمان دأوبه‎, سوکر اونتوق ملوروسکن ايکور انجيڠ‎, ايکور انجيڠ دلوروت, تيدق لوروس جوݢ‎ Rumi: jejak boleh dihilangkan, belang bagaimana dihilangkan?, rupa boleh diubah, tabiat dibawa mati, ikatan boleh diubah, takuk bagaimana diubah?, sukar untuk meluruskan ekor anjing, ekor anjing dilurut, tidak lurus juga, habis minyak sepasu, ekor anjing diurut tiada lurus Maltese: please add this translation if you can Persian: لا تبدیل لخلق الله‎ (lâ tabdila lexalqe-llah) (rare) Polish: natura ciągnie wilka do lasu (pl) Portuguese: o leopardo não pode mudar suas manchas, pode o etíope mudar a sua pele ou o leopardo as suas manchas? Romanian: lupul își schimbă părul, dar năravul ba Russian: волк ка́ждый год линя́ет, а всё сер быва́ет (volk káždyj god linjájet, a vsjó ser byvájet, literally “each year the wolf molts its fur, but it continues to be grey”), ско́лько во́лка ни корми́, он всё в лес смо́трит (skólʹko vólka ni kormí, on vsjó v les smótrit, literally “however good you feed the wolf, it still looks onto the forest”), горба́того моги́ла испра́вит (ru) (gorbátovo mogíla isprávit, literally “only the grave can straighten the hunchback”), чёрного кобеля́ не отмо́ешь добела́ (čórnovo kobeljá ne otmóješʹ dobelá, literally “you can’t wash a black dog to make it white”), зарека́лась лиса́ кур не ворова́ть (zarekálasʹ lisá kur ne vorovátʹ, literally “the fox promised not to steal chickens”) Scottish Gaelic: an car a bha san t-seana mhaide 's duilich a thoirt às (literally “the twist which is in the old stick is difficult to take out”) Serbo-Croatian: vuk dlaku mijenja, ali ćud nikada (literally “a wolf sheds his coat, but never his temper”) Spanish: genio y figura hasta la sepultura (es) (literally “genius and player until (the) burial”), no hay que pedir peras al olmo (literally “there's no use demanding pears from an elm”), la cabra siempre tira al monte (es) (literally “the goat always goes to the mountain”), quien nace lechón muere cochino (literally “who is born piglet, dies as pig”) Swedish: ränderna går aldrig ur (literally “the stripes never go out”) Tagalog: please add this translation if you can Tibetan: please add this translation if you can Turkish: please add this translation if you can Ukrainian: горбатого могила виправить (horbatoho mohyla vypravytʹ) Vietnamese: ngựa quen đường cũ (literally “the horse goes back to the old road”), giang sơn dễ đổi, bản tính khó dời (vi) (literally “nature changes, one's nature barely does”) Welsh: a newidia y llewpard ei frychni? Yiddish: אַ חזיר בלײַבט אַ חזיר‎ (a khazer blaybt a khazer, literally “a pig remains a pig”)

See also

• what's bred in the bone will come out in the flesh

References

1. The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], 1611, OCLC 964384981, Jeremiah 13:23, column 1: “Can the Ethiopian change his ſkinne? or the leopard his ſpots?”.