blood is thicker than water
Preserved but no longer current.
Relationship has a claim which is generally acknowledged. It is better to seek kindness from a kinsman than from a stranger. Water soon evaporates and leaves no mark behind; not so blood. So the interest we take in a stranger is thinner and more evanescent than that which we take in a blood relation. The proverb occurs in Ray's Collection (1672) and is probably many years older.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Examples
Tatoeba sentence #238754 (CC BY 2.0 FR, tatoeba.org, retrieved 2026-07-31)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “blood is thicker than water” mean?
Relationship has a claim which is generally acknowledged. It is better to seek kindness from a kinsman than from a stranger. Water soon evaporates and leaves no mark behind; not so blood. So the interest we take in a stranger is thinner and more evanescent than that which we take in a blood relation. The proverb occurs in Ray's Collection (1672) and is probably many years older.
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.