English · Proverb Candidate

blood is thicker than water

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

Family ties are stronger than any other relationship

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Mối quan hệ gia đình mạnh hơn bất kỳ mối quan hệ nào khác

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: blood relationship is more binding than shared experiences

Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

‘ You remember, blood is thicker than water.

‘ But blood is thicker than water and I have been at the hospital waiting to hear how she is but she hasn't come round yet,’ said Mr Harrison.

British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)

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 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.

Equivalents & related

Near equivalent một giọt máu đào hơn ao nước lã Close to the English saying: “Blood is thicker than water.”. Tiếng Việt Near equivalent cá mè một lứa birds of a feather flock together Tiếng Việt Near equivalent birds of a feather flock together People with similar interests or characteristics gather together English · via cá mè một lứa Near equivalent birds of a feather People with similar interests. English · via cá mè một lứa

Lighter cards are two steps away in the meaning graph — equivalents of equivalents, reached via the entry shown on the card.

Topics: Water Blood

Common questions

What does “blood is thicker than water” mean?

Family ties are stronger than any other relationship Literally: blood relationship is more binding than shared experiences

Is “blood is thicker than water” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

What is the closest equivalent?

“một giọt máu đào hơn ao nước lã” (Tiếng Việt) — near equivalent.