Top 144 Chest Tattoos for Men

The word tattoo, or tattow in the 18th century, is a loanword from the Samoan word tatau, which means "to strike". The Oxford English Dictionary offers the etymology of tattoo as "In 18th c. tattaow, tattow. From Polynesian (Samoan, Tahitian, Tongan, etc.) tatau. In Marquesan, tatu." Just 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 efficiency — see military tattoo. In this case, the English word tattoo is derived from the Dutch word taptoe.The 1st 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, 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 referred to as "tattaw".

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

The Japanese word irezumi indicates "insertion of ink" and can imply tattoos employing tebori, the conventional Japanese hand approach, a Western-style machine or any strategy of tattooing making use of insertion of ink. The most widespread word utilized for conventional Japanese tattoo designs is horimono. Japanese might use the word tattoo to mean non-Japanese styles of tattooing.