Word.ws English Dictionary

a leopard can't change its spots

a leopard can't change its spots is the alternative form of a leopard cannot change its spots.

Meaning of a leopard cannot change its spots

Proverb

a leopard cannot change its spots

  1. One cannot change one's own nature.
    • King.[…]Lyons make Leopards tame. / Mo[wbray]. Yea, but not change his ſpots: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...
    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

Questions about a leopard can't change its spots

What is a leopard can't change its spots the alternative form of?
A leopard can't change its spots is the alternative form of a leopard cannot change its spots.

Words near a leopard can't change its spots in the dictionary

  1. a la minute
  2. a la mode
  3. A language
  4. A languages
  5. A Laracha
  6. a leopard can't change its spots
  7. a leopard cannot change its spots
  8. a leopard does not change its spots
  9. A level
  10. A levels
  11. a lie can run around the world before the truth can get its boots on

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: a leopard can't change its spots (page history and authors); a leopard cannot change its spots (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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