A person of noble or aristocratic birth; someone from a wealthy, high-status family.
From Spanish sangre azul (blue blood), originating in 16th-century Spain as a reference to the visible blue veins of pale-skinned nobles compared to darker-skinned Moors. The metaphor crossed into English.
The phrase 'blue blood' reveals how racism and class prejudice intertwined—it literally originated as a way to mark racial purity, treating pale skin and visible veins as markers of superiority!
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