A blueprint is a detailed plan or technical drawing that shows how to build something. More generally, it can mean any clear plan for reaching a goal.
The term comes from an old copying process where white lines appeared on a blue background, used for architectural and engineering plans. “Blue” plus “print” described both the color and the printed nature of the plans.
Even though modern plans are usually digital and not blue at all, we still call them “blueprints.” The word has escaped its technology and now lives on as a metaphor for any carefully designed plan, even for your life or a story.
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