blood, sweat and tears

noun

A person's determination and hard work.

“We've poured lots of blood, sweat, and tears into this project.”

Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

nounblood, sweat and tears pl (plural only)

alternative blood, sweat, and tears

  1. idiomaticpluralplural onlyA person's determination and hard work.

    We've poured lots of blood, sweat, and tears into this project.

    2 more examples

    […] for if Princes could keep their own, and that which juſtly belongeth unto them, they could not be urged to draw ſuch extraordinary Subſidies from the blood, ſweat, and tears of their people-; […]

    c. 1680 [1655], William Drummond of Hawthornden, “The History of the Reign of James the Firſt, King of Scotland”, in The History of Scotland […] , Tho. Fabian, page 29

    She concludes: "I have put blood, sweat and tears into this business. I am genuinely more excited now than I have ever been. I plan to stick around."

    2021 October 20, Angie Doll explains to Paul Clifton, “We were absolutely at rock bottom...”, in RAIL, number 942, page 37

Origin

Popularized through a famous speech made by Winston Churchill to the House of Commons in 1940, with slight modification, but already present in earlier poetry. More information May be an extension of a much older Indo-European poetic formula “blood and tears”; compare e.g. Hittite 𒂊𒌍𒄩𒉌 𒅖𒄩𒄴𒊒𒌑𒄿 (e-eš-ḫa-ni iš-ḫa-aḫ-ru-ú-i, “in blood [and] in tear(s)”). It is common in Indo-European oral traditions to juxtapose three bodily substances pertaining to a certain theme, such as “flesh, bone and marrow” for the internal solids (cf. Calin (2017), pages 143–146).

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Danish blod, sved og tårer
  • blod, sved og tårerperson's determination and hard work
Dutch bloed, zweet en tranen
  • bloed, zweet en tranenperson's determination and hard work
Finnish verta, hikeä ja kyyneleitä
  • verta, hikeä ja kyyneleitäperson's determination and hard work
German Blut, Schweiß und Tränen
  • Blut, Schweiß und Tränenperson's determination and hard work
Italian sudore, lacrime e sangue
  • sudore, lacrime e sangueperson's determination and hard work
Korean 피땀
  • 피땀 (pittam)person's determination and hard work
Malay darah, peluh, dan air mata
  • darah, peluh, dan air mataperson's determination and hard work
Norwegian Bokmål blod, svette og tårer
  • blod, svette og tårerperson's determination and hard work
Polish krwawica
  • krwawicaperson's determination and hard work
Spanish sangre, sudor y lágrimas
  • sangre, sudor y lágrimasperson's determination and hard work
Swedish blod, svett och tårar
  • blod, svett och tårarperson's determination and hard work
Tagalog dugo at pawis
  • dugo at pawisperson's determination and hard work
Cite this entry
APA

blood, sweat and tears. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/blood%2C%20sweat%20and%20tears

MLA

“blood, sweat and tears.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/blood%2C%20sweat%20and%20tears. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “blood, sweat and tears,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/blood%2C%20sweat%20and%20tears.

Source: blood, sweat and tears on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.