blood is thicker than water

English

Pronunciation

Audio (General Australian): (file)

Proverb

blood is thicker than water

(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, gjaku nuk bëhet 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)
Macedonian: крв не е вода (krv ne e voda)
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 (blood is not water)
Slovak: krv nie je voda
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 (vi)
Welsh: nes penelin nag arddwrn (literally “the elbow is nearer than the wrist”), mae gwaed yn dewach na dŵr

References

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