# a leopard cannot change its spots

idiom · CEFR C1

Source: https://englishreference.com/idiom/a-leopard-cant-change-its-spots
Updated: 2026-07-29

## Meaning

People rarely change their fundamental nature, however much they may seem to.

## Examples

- He promised to change, but a leopard cannot change its spots.
- She took him back hoping he had matured, forgetting that a leopard cannot change its spots.
- The board reinstated the old chief executive on assurances of reform, ignoring every sign that a leopard cannot change its spots — and within a year the same practices were back.

## Origin

The phrase comes from Jeremiah 13:23, where the prophet asks a pointed rhetorical question about a people set in their ways: "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil." Jeremiah's logic is that habitual wrongdoing becomes second nature — as fixed and unalterable as an animal's markings. The answer to his question is plainly no, and that is the point. English lifted the leopard and dropped the rest, and the saying now runs "a leopard cannot change its spots." It means that a person's basic character does not really change: someone who has behaved a certain way all their life is unlikely to become a different person, whatever promises they make.

---

From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.