125+ Uplifting Christian Tattoo IdeasSpiritual Body Art for Everyone

The word tattoo, or tattow in the 18th century, is a loanword from the Samoan word tatau, meaning "to strike". The Oxford English Dictionary gives the etymology of tattoo as "In 18th c. tattaow, tattow. From Polynesian (Samoan, Tahitian, Tongan, and so forth.) 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 physique modification term is not to be confused with the origins of the word for the military drumbeat or functionality — see military tattoo. In this case, the English word tattoo is derived from the Dutch word taptoe.The initial written reference to the word tattoo (or tatau) appears 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, each and 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 very first voyage to Tahiti and New Zealand. In his narrative of the voyage, he refers to an operation named "tattaw".

Tattoo enthusiasts might 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 exactly where they function as "tattoo shops", "tattoo studios" or "tattoo parlors".Mainstream art galleries hold exhibitions of both traditional and custom tattoo designs, such as Beyond Skin, at the Museum of Croydon. Copyrighted tattoo styles that are mass-produced and sent to tattoo artists are known as "flash", a notable instance of industrial design.[8] Flash sheets are prominently displayed in a lot of tattoo parlors for the goal of providing both inspiration and prepared-made tattoo images to customers.

The Japanese word irezumi means "insertion of ink" and can mean tattoos employing tebori, the traditional Japanese hand strategy, a Western-style machine or any approach of tattooing making use of insertion of ink. The most common word used for classic Japanese tattoo styles is horimono. Japanese could use the word tattoo to mean non-Japanese designs of tattooing.