How can you find out your blood type?
Is there an easy way to find out your blood type?
Every person (on this planet, at least) has one of the following blood types: A, B, AB or O — and that blood is either Rh-positive or Rh-negative.
You can, of course, find out your blood type by visiting your healthcare provider… but if you’re mostly just curious, this can be an expensive route to take. So we have found a couple of other options for you:
Give blood
This option is free, and helps other people at the same time. Every time you donate blood — and in addition to realizing that one unit of blood can save up to three lives — the Red Cross blood bank staff will screen your donation to find out its type.
In the US, after you make your first donation, you will receive a Red Cross donor card that tells you your blood type.
Depending on where you live, here are some links to help you find out where to donate blood in your area:
- American National Red Cross
- Canadian Blood Services
- UK National Blood Service
- Australian Red Cross Blood Service
Test yourself
You can buy test kits online easily — like this Eldoncard Blood Type Kit at Amazon — and with the addition of just a couple drops of blood, can type your blood all by yourself.
More info about blood types
In this chart adapted from one by the Red Cross, you can see that your blood type has been passed on genetically from your parents. Here’s how:
| Mother | AB | AB | AB | AB | B | A | A | O | O | O | ||
| Father | AB | B | A | O | B | B | A | B | A | O | ||
| Your possible blood type | ||||||||||||
| O | x | x | x | x | x | x | ||||||
| A | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | |||||
| B | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | |||||
| AB | x | x | x | x | ||||||||
For more information, check out the Stanford University Blood Center: Blood Types in the US page, and from the University of Utah Genetic Science Learning Center: Genes and blood type.
