tattoo

/tæˈtuː//tæˈtu/

tattoo noun: an image made on a body part, usually the skin with ink and a needle.

Image: Bur, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

tattoo (plural tattoos or (uncommon) tattooes)

An image made on a body part, usually the skin with ink and a needle.
- His shirt sleeves were turned up, so upon his brawny arms his tattooes were visible.[1890], John Law [pseudonym; Margaret Harkness], “George, the Caretaker”, in A City Girl. A Realistic Story., 2nd edition, London: Authors’ Co-operative Publishing Co., Ltd. […], →OCLC, page 21...
- Nothing pleases a Burman more than to be asked to show his tattooes. He is as delighted as a collector of curios in England. They consist of a series of pictures of tigers, lions, elephants, dragons, demons, and what-not, surrounded by mottoes invoking good fortune, and round waist and knees the...1898, W[illiam] S[proston] Caine, “Burma”, in Picturesque India: A Handbook for European Travellers, London: George Routledge and Sons Limited; New York, N.Y.: E[dward] P[ayson] Dutton and Co....
A method of decorating a body part, usually the skin, by inserting colored substances under the surface with a sharp instrument (usually a solenoid-driven needle).

Verb (1)

tattoo (third-person singular simple present tattoos, present participle tattooing, simple past and past participle tattooed)

To apply a tattoo to (someone or something).
- She made Silas tattoo an anchor on her arm like his1871, Louisa May Alcott, chapter VII, in Little Men
To hit the ball hard, as if to figuratively leave a tattoo on the ball.
- Jones tattoos one into the gap in left; that will clear the bases.

Noun (2)

tattoo (countable and uncountable, plural tattoos)

A signal played five minutes before taps (lights out).
- Study goes on until tattoo, which, when Pops was at the Point, was sounded at 9.30, followed by taps at 10.2017, Charles King, Cadet Days
A signal by drum or bugle ordering soldiers to return to their quarters.
- The bumblebee's mane glowed in the morning light—each hair sharp and distinct to Eragon—and its blurred wings generated a gentle bombilation, like a tattoo played on a drum.2008, Christopher Paolini, “Rider and Ra'zac”, in Brisingr, page 69
A military display or pageant.
A rhythmic tapping.
- the right hand became restless and began to beat out a silent tattoo upon the tabletop1935, Dorothy L. Sayers, Gaudy Night

Verb (2)

tattoo (third-person singular simple present tattoos, present participle tattooing, simple past and past participle tattooed)

To tap rhythmically on, to drum.
- He had looked at the clock many scores of times; and at the street, where the rain was pattering down, and the people as they clinked by in pattens, left long reflections on the shining stone: he tattooed at the table: he bit his nails most completely […]1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 22, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC

Noun (3)

tattoo (plural tattoos)

A pony of a certain breed from India.

tattoo meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

tattoo in Hindi

an image made in the skin with ink and a needle: गोदना godnā

tattoo in Tamil

பச்சை குத்தல், மட்டக்குதிரை, படை அந்திமுரசு, இராணுவ இரவுக்காட்சி, விரல் தாளமிட்டுச் சோம்பியிரு

tattoo in Marathi

an image made in the skin with ink and a needle: टॅटू ṭĕṭū

tattoo in Urdu

an image made in the skin with ink and a needle: گودنا godnā

More languagesFewer languages

tattoo in Bengali: উল্কি ulki
tattoo in Telugu: పచ్చబొట్టు
tattoo in Malayalam: പച്ചകുത്തുക paccakuttuka
tattoo in Kannada: ಹಸಿರು hasiru
tattoo in Punjabi: ਟੈਟੂ
tattoo in Gujarati: છુંદણું chundṇũ, છુંદણું છુંદાવવું chundṇũ chundāvvũ
tattoo in Odia: ଟାଟୁ, ଟାଟୁ କରନ୍ତୁ
tattoo in Nepali: ट्याटू ṭyāṭū, ट्याटू खोप्नु ṭyāṭū khopnu
tattoo in Pashto: خالوهنه xālwahǝ́na
tattoo in Tagalog: pika, tato, batik
tattoo in Arabic: وَشْم wašm, وَشَمَ wašama, وَشَّمَ waššama
tattoo in Malay: tatu
tattoo in Indonesian: tato, rajah
tattoo in Persian: خالکوبی xâl-kubi, تتو tatu, وشام vešâm, وشم vašm
tattoo in Thai: รอยสัก rɔɔi-sàk, การสัก gaan-sàk, สัก sàk
tattoo in Vietnamese: xăm
tattoo in Myanmar: ထိုးကွင်း htui:kwang:

Examples of tattoo in a sentence

Nothing pleases a Burman more than to be asked to show his tattooes.1898, W[illiam] S[proston] Caine, “Burma”, in Picturesque India: A Handbook for European Travellers, London: George Routledge and Sons...
When the wounds healed, the charcoal remaining under the skin made striking tattooes.1961, W[illiam] W[ilmon] Newcomb, Jr., “The Caddo Confederacies: East Texas”, in The Indians of Texas: From Prehistoric to Modern Times...
He'd be able to tell me in ten seconds whether someone was worth a tattoo or not.1995, Nick Hornby, High Fidelity, London: Victor Gollancz, →ISBN, page 22:
And here's a solution to an age old tattoo problem.1997, George Carlin, Brain Droppings, New York: Hyperion Books, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 31:

All 40 example sentences with tattoo

Forms of tattoo

Noun
plural	tattoos
plural uncommon	tattooes
alternative form	tattu
Verb
third-person singular present	tattoos
present participle	tattooing
past participle	tattooed
past	tattooed

Past tense of tattoo: tattooed

Plural of tattoo: tattoos

Origin of tattoo

From earlier tattaow, tattow, a borrowing from a Polynesian language, e.g. Samoan tatau (“tattoo; to tap, to strike”).

From earlier tap-to, borrowed from Dutch taptoe, from tap (“tap; faucet on a cask”) + toe (“to; shut”). More at tap, to.

From Hindi टट्टू (ṭaṭṭū).

Words formed from tattoo

Phrases with tattoo

Words that rhyme with tattoo

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about tattoo

What does tattoo mean?: Tattoo means an image made on a body part, usually the skin with ink and a needle.
What is tattoo in Hindi?: Tattoo in Hindi is गोदना (godnā). See Tattoo meaning in Hindi.
How do you use tattoo in a sentence?: Nothing pleases a Burman more than to be asked to show his tattooes.
What part of speech is tattoo?: Tattoo can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce tattoo?: Tattoo is pronounced /tæˈtu/ (US).
What is the plural of tattoo?: The plural of tattoo is tattoos.

Words near tattoo in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: tattoo (page history and authors); tattoo (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); tattoo (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ಹಸಿರು (Kannada) (page history and authors); tattoo (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); tattoo (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Qwertygiy-tattoo.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-tattoo.wav.

Cite this entry: “tattoo.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/tattoo. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.