# blood, sweat and tears

idiom

Source: https://englishreference.com/idiom/blood-sweat-and-tears
Updated: 2026-08-10

## Meaning

A person's determination and hard work.

## Examples

- This project took a lot of blood, sweat and tears.
- You can see his blood, sweat and tears in this beautiful garden.
- She put her blood, sweat and tears into building this business from the ground up.
- The athletes poured their blood, sweat and tears into training for the championship, sacrificing every weekend to improve their performance.
- After years of blood, sweat and tears, the author finally completed the manuscript that would define her career.

## 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 three bodily substances pertaining to a certain theme, such as “flesh, bone and marrow” for the internal solids (cf. Calin (2017), pages 143–146). (disputed)

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