Tattoos Design Ideas: 36 Best Attractive Small Tattoos Design Ideas for men and women

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." Prior to 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 body modification term is not to be confused with the origins of the word for the military drumbeat or performance — see military tattoo. In this case, the English word tattoo is derived from the Dutch word taptoe.The first 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 now mention the way they mark themselves indelibly, each and 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 1st voyage to Tahiti and New Zealand. In his narrative of the voyage, he refers to an operation referred to as "tattaw".

Tattoo enthusiasts could refer to tattoos as "ink", "pieces", "skin art", "tattoo art", "tats" or "work"; to the creators as "tattoo artists", "tattooers" or "tattooists"; and to places where they operate as "tattoo shops", "tattoo studios" or "tattoo parlors".Mainstream art galleries hold exhibitions of each traditional and custom tattoo styles, such as Beyond Skin, at the Museum of Croydon. Copyrighted tattoo styles that are mass-developed and sent to tattoo artists are recognized as "flash", a notable instance of industrial style.[8] Flash sheets are prominently displayed in numerous tattoo parlors for the objective of providing each inspiration and prepared-created tattoo pictures to consumers.

The Japanese word irezumi means "insertion of ink" and can imply tattoos using tebori, the classic Japanese hand strategy, a Western-style machine or any approach of tattooing utilizing insertion of ink. The most frequent word utilized for standard Japanese tattoo styles is horimono. Japanese might use the word tattoo to mean non-Japanese designs of tattooing.