Sheep are one of the meekest animals around while the wolf is evil and tenacious. And so whenever we say someone or something is a wolf in sheep’s skin or clothing, we mean to point out that they’re evil and dangerous even though they appear innocent and harmless.

In other words, don’t be fooled by appearances.

According to Phrase.org.uk, the story of the wolf and sheep is one of many such stories contained in the modern version of Aesop’s Fables, which came about in the 19th century. But as an English expression, its history dates back to the Christian Bible, which came about a few centuries earlier.

Here, the Phrase.org.uk:

The version of Aesop’s Fables that is best known to us today is George Fyler Townsend’s 1867 translation, in which he gives the Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing fable this way:

Once upon a time a Wolf resolved to disguise his appearance in order to secure food more easily. Encased in the skin of a sheep, he pastured with the flock deceiving the shepherd by his costume. In the evening he was shut up by the shepherd in the fold; the gate was closed, and the entrance made thoroughly secure. But the shepherd, returning to the fold during the night to obtain meat for the next day, mistakenly caught up the Wolf instead of a sheep, and killed him instantly.

The King James Version of the Bible, 1611, gives this warning in Matthew 7:15:

Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

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