50 Tree Tattoo designs for Men and Women

The word tattoo, or tattow in the 18th century, is a loanword from the Samoan wordtatau, meaning "to strike". The Oxford English Dictionary offers the etymology of tattoo as "In 18th c. tattaow, tattow. FromPolynesian (Samoan, Tahitian, Tongan, and so forth.) tatau. InMarquesan, tatu." Ahead of 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 overallperformance — see military tattoo. In this case, theEnglish word tattoo is derived from the Dutch word taptoe.The very first 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 nowmention the way they mark themselves indelibly, each and every 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 his first voyage to Tahiti and New Zealand. In his narrative of the voyage,he refers to an operation known as "tattaw".

Tattoo enthusiasts may possibly refer to tattoos as "ink","pieces", "skin art", "tattoo art", "tats" or "work"; to the creators as "tattooartists", "tattooers" or "tattooists"; and to areasexactly 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-created and sent to tattoo artists are identified as"flash", a notable instance of industrial design.[8] Flashsheets are prominently displayed in several tattoo parlorsfor the goal of providingeach inspiration and prepared-made tattooimages to customers.

The Japanese word irezumi means "insertion of ink"and can imply tattoos making use of tebori, theclassic Japanese handapproach, a Western-style machine or any technique of tattooing using insertion of ink.The most common word used for traditional Japanese tattoostyles is horimono. Japanese might use the wordtattoo to imply non-Japanese styles of tattooing.