the bad penny always turns up
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Also seen as: a bad penny always turns up
Sense 1
Alternative form of a bad penny always turns up.
Sources & notes
Adapted from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30 via kaikki.org).
Sense 2
An unwanted or disreputable person always returns
Người không mong muốn hoặc đáng ngờ luôn quay lại
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Examples
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed on Wikipedia “List of proverbial phrases” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “the bad penny always turns up” mean?
Alternative form of a bad penny always turns up.
Is “the bad penny always turns up” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.