Skull Inspiration : 20 skull cameo tattoo designs

The word tattoo, or tattow in the 18th century, is a loanword from the Samoan word tatau, meaning "to strike". The Oxford English Dictionary provides the etymology of tattoo as "In 18th c. tattaow, tattow. From Polynesian (Samoan, Tahitian, Tongan, and so on.) tatau. In Marquesan, tatu." Before the importation of the Polynesian word, the practice of tattooing had been described in the West as painting, scarring or staining.The etymology of the body modification term is not to be confused with the origins of the word for the military drumbeat or overall performance — see military tattoo. In this case, the English word tattoo is derived from the Dutch word taptoe.The first written reference to the word tattoo (or tatau) seems in the journal of Joseph Banks (24 February 1743 – 19 June 1820), the naturalist aboard explorer James Cook's ship HMS Endeavour: "I shall now mention the way they mark themselves indelibly, every of them is so marked by their humour or disposition".[5] The word tattoo was brought to Europe by Cook, when he returned in 1769 from his first voyage to Tahiti and New Zealand. In his narrative of the voyage, he refers to an operation named "tattaw".

Tattoo enthusiasts could refer to tattoos as "ink", "pieces", "skin art", "tattoo art", "tats" or "work"; to the creators as "tattoo artists", "tattooers" or "tattooists"; and to locations where they work as "tattoo shops", "tattoo studios" or "tattoo parlors".Mainstream art galleries hold exhibitions of each conventional and custom tattoo designs, such as Beyond Skin, at the Museum of Croydon. Copyrighted tattoo styles that are mass-developed and sent to tattoo artists are known as "flash", a notable instance of industrial style.[8] Flash sheets are prominently displayed in many tattoo parlors for the goal of providing both inspiration and prepared-produced tattoo images to consumers.

The Japanese word irezumi indicates "insertion of ink" and can imply tattoos using tebori, the standard Japanese hand method, a Western-style machine or any method of tattooing employing insertion of ink. The most frequent word utilised for traditional Japanese tattoo designs is horimono. Japanese might use the word tattoo to imply non-Japanese types of tattooing.