性しょう懲こりもなく

しょ

う

こ

り

も

な

く

Meanings

expression, adverb

without learning one's lesson; doggedly; in spite of past failures

Used when someone repeats the same mistake or undesirable behavior despite previous bad experiences. Often carries a critical or exasperated tone.

Kanji

性sex, gender, nature
懲penal, chastise, punish

Related words

懲こりる
The verb 懲りる means 'to learn from a bad experience and avoid repeating it'. 性懲りもなく is the adverbial form of the negative adjective 性懲りもない, literally 'not having learned from experience', and is used to criticize repeated foolishness.

Etymology

From 性 (しょう, 'one's nature') + 懲りる (こりる, 'to learn from experience') + も + ない, literally 'without even learning from experience in one's nature'. The exact historical derivation is uncertain, but the expression is conventionally associated with this meaning.