50 Tree Tattoo designs for Men and Women

The word tattoo, or tattow in the 18th century, is a loanword from the Samoan wordtatau, which means "to strike". The Oxford English Dictionaryprovides the etymology of tattoo as "In 18th c. tattaow, tattow. FromPolynesian (Samoan, Tahitian, Tongan, and so on.) tatau. InMarquesan, tatu." Just before the importation of thePolynesian word, the practice of tattooing had been described in the West aspainting, scarring or staining.The etymology of the physique modification term is not to be confused withthe origins of the word for the military drumbeat or efficiency — see military tattoo. In this case, theEnglish word tattoo is derived from the Dutch word taptoe.The initial 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 nowmention the way they mark themselves indelibly, each of them is so marked by their humour or disposition".[5] The word tattoowas brought to Europe by Cook, when he returned in 1769 from hisvery 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 "tattooartists", "tattooers" or "tattooists"; and to locations where they work as "tattoo shops", "tattoostudios" or "tattoo parlors".Mainstream art galleries hold exhibitions of eachtraditional and custom tattoo styles, such as Beyond Skin, at the Museumof Croydon. Copyrighted tattoo styles that are mass-made and sent to tattoo artists are identified as"flash", a notable instance of industrial design.[8] Flashsheets are prominently displayed in many tattoo parlorsfor the goal of offeringboth inspiration and ready-produced tattoophotos to consumers.

The Japanese word irezumi means "insertion of ink"and can mean tattoos employing tebori, thestandard Japanese hand method, a Western-style machine or any approach of tattooing utilizing insertion of ink.The most widespread word used for traditional Japanese tattoodesigns is horimono. Japanese may possibly use the wordtattoo to mean non-Japanese styles of tattooing.