The evil wound is cured, but not the evil name.

Physical harm may heal, yet a damaging reputation can endure long after the injury itself has passed. The saying contrasts bodily recovery with the stubborn afterlife of public disgrace.

It warns that a dishonouring label, accusation, or notoriety may be harder to remove than a visible wound. Such a reputation need not be deserved, and healing an immediate hurt may not repair how others judge the person.

Use it when stressing that reputational damage can outlast a concrete injury or episode, especially in reflective discussion of shame, scandal, accusation, or lasting social judgment. Its morally weighty, proverbial wording may sound formal in contemporary prose rather than suit casual mention of ordinary physical recovery.