blood is thicker than water

English

Pronunciation

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Proverb

blood is thicker than water

1. (family, idiomatic) Family relations and loyalties are stronger than relationships with people who are not family members.
   • 1865 May 15 – 1866 January 1, Anthony Trollope, “Mary Belton”, in The Belton Estate. […], volume III, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published December 1865 (indicated as 1866), →OCLC, page 201:

     It seems as though you had come to be so very near to us; and blood is thicker than water, is it not? If cousins are not friends, who can be?

   • c. 1915, Lucy Fitch Perkins, chapter 5, in The Scotch Twins:

     The old clans are scattered now, but blood is thicker than water still, and you're welcome to the fireside of your kinsman!

   • 2019 March 6, “Binary Star”, in Benjamin and mpi (lyrics), SawanoHiroyuki[nZk] (music), R∃/MEMBER, performed by Uru, Sacra Music, →vgmdb:

     You know blood is thicker than water / But you just want everyone to get along

Translations

relationships are stronger within the family

• Albanian: s'bëhet gjaku ujë
• Arabic: please add this translation if you can

  Egyptian Arabic: الدم عُمره ما يبقى مَيَّة

• Armenian: արյունը ջուր չի դառնա (aryunə ǰur čʻi daṙna)
• Bulgarian: кръвта вода не става (krǎvta voda ne stava)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 血濃於水／血浓于水 (zh) (xuènóngyúshuǐ)

• Czech: krev není voda
• Danish: blod er tykkere end vand
• Dutch: bloed is dikker dan water
• Finnish: veri on vettä sakeampaa (fi)
• French: bon sang ne peut mentir (fr); bon sang ne saurait mentir (fr); la voix du sang est la plus forte
• German: Blut ist dicker als Wasser (de)
• Greek: το αίμα νερό δεν γίνεται (to aíma neró den gínetai)
• Hungarian: a vér nem válik vízzé (hu)
• Irish: gach díograis go deireadh, is fearr beagán den ghaol ná mórán den charthanas
• Italian: il sangue non è acqua
• Japanese: 血は水よりも濃い (chi wa mizu yori mo koi)
• Korean: 피는 물보다 진하다 (ko) (pineun mulboda jinhada)
• Malay: air dicincang tidak akan putus
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: blod er tykkere enn vann (no)

  Nynorsk: blod er tjukkare enn vatn

• Polish: krew nie woda
• Portuguese: o sangue é mais grosso que a água
• Romanian: sângele apă nu se face (blood does not become water)
• Russian: кровь — не води́ца (krovʹ — ne vodíca) (blood is not water), кровь людска́я — не води́ца (krovʹ ljudskája — ne vodíca) (people's blood is not water)
• Scottish Gaelic: is tighe fuil na bùrn, is tiugha fuil na uisge, is fhaisge a' ghlùn na an uileann, 's e a leanabh fhèin as luaithe a bhaisteas an sagart (the priest baptises his own child first), thèid dùthchas an aghaidh nan creag (hereditary tendencies will go against the rocks)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: кр̑в није во̀да

  Roman: kȓv nije vòda

• Slovene: kri ni voda (blood is not water)
• Spanish: la sangre tira
• Swedish: blod är tjockare än vatten (sv)
• Tagalog: mas matimbang ang dugo kaysa tubig
• Thai: เลือดข้นกว่าน้ำ (th) (lêuat kôn gwàa nám)
• Vietnamese: một giọt máu đào hơn ao nước lã
• Welsh: gwaed yn dewach na dŵr

References

• Gregory Y. Titelman, Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings, 1996, →ISBN, p. 32.