bloodline
Your family line, the folks you come from.
Also called blood line.
Updated September 21, 2026
bloodline pronunciation
/BLUD-line/
Meaning
The chain of ancestors that made you. Rural talk uses it for people and for livestock pedigrees alike. Somebody might say a boy comes from a strong bloodline, meaning the family name carries grit, talent, or trouble, depending on who is talking.
How folks use it
- “That temper runs in his bloodline.”
- “She's from a bloodline of coal miners going back four generations.”
Origin and etymology
English bloodline grew from breeding talk (horses, cattle, dogs) and from older ideas of blood as inheritance. In Southern and Appalachian speech it stays handy for family ancestry, sitting next to words like blood kin and kinfolk.