ProverbWisdom
Latin origin14th c.
Latin origin14th c.One bad apple can spoil the whole bunch
Meaning: Corruption spreads contagiously; a single morally compromised person can undermine an entire group's integrity.
Origin: A rotting apple gives off ethylene gas, which speeds the ripening and decay of the apples around it, so one bad fruit really can spoil a barrel. The saying is found among 14th-century Latin proverbs, Chaucer quotes it in The Cook's Tale, and Benjamin Franklin printed "The rotten apple spoils his companion" in 1736.
Explore another collection: Tongue Twisters
Tricky phrases to practice out loud, from languages around the world.
- Бабин біб розцвів у дощ, буде бабі біб у борщ. (Babyn bib roztsviv u doshch, bude babi bib u borshch.) A bilabial 'b / bib / bor' drill that ends in a very Slavic splash of borscht.
- She sells seashells by the seashore. The definitive 's' versus 'sh' alternation — the tongue has to switch place of articulati…
- Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. A relentless 'p' plosive drill; a peck is an old dry measure of about nine litres.
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