White Butterfly Tattoo

The word tattoo, or tattow in the 18th century, is a loanword from the Samoan wordtatau, which means "to strike". The Oxford English Dictionary gives the etymology of tattoo as "In 18th c. tattaow, tattow. FromPolynesian (Samoan, Tahitian, Tongan, and so forth.) 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 body 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 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 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 called "tattaw".

Tattoo enthusiasts could refer to tattoos as "ink","pieces", "skin art", "tattoo art", "tats" or "work"; to the creators as "tattooartists", "tattooers" or "tattooists"; and to areas where they function as "tattoo shops", "tattoostudios" or "tattoo parlors".Mainstream art galleries hold exhibitions of both conventional and custom tattoo styles, such as Beyond Skin, at the Museumof Croydon. Copyrighted tattoo designs that are mass-made and sent to tattoo artists are known as"flash", a notable instance of industrial design and style.[8] Flashsheets are prominently displayed in several tattoo parlorsfor the purpose of providingeach inspiration and ready-created tattooimages to customers.

The Japanese word irezumi implies "insertion of ink"and can imply tattoos using tebori, theconventional Japanese hand method, a Western-style machine or any approach of tattooing employing insertion of ink.The most frequent word utilized for classic Japanese tattoodesigns is horimono. Japanese may possibly use the wordtattoo to imply non-Japanese styles of tattooing.