tattoo
1 Americannoun
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tattoos
plural
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a signal on a drum, bugle, or trumpet at night, for soldiers or sailors to go to their quarters.
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a knocking or strong pulsation.
My heart beat a tattoo on my ribs.
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British. an outdoor military pageant or display.
noun
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tattoos
plural
-
the act or practice of marking the skin with indelible patterns, pictures, legends, etc., by making punctures in it and inserting pigments.
-
a pattern, picture, legend, etc., so made.
verb (used with object)
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tattoos,
present (3rd person singular)
-
tattooed,
past participle, past
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tattooing
present participle
-
to mark (the skin) with tattoos.
-
to put (tattoos) on the skin.
noun
-
(formerly) a signal by drum or bugle ordering the military to return to their quarters
-
a military display or pageant, usually at night
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any similar beating on a drum, etc
verb
noun
-
a design made by this process
-
the practice of tattooing
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
tattoosimple
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tattoossimple
-
have tattooedperfect
-
has tattooedperfect
-
am tattooingprogressive
-
are tattooingprogressive
-
is tattooingprogressive
-
have been tattooingperfect progressive
-
has been tattooingperfect progressive
Past
-
tattooedsimple
-
had tattooedperfect
-
was tattooingprogressive
-
were tattooingprogressive
-
had been tattooingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of tattoo1
First recorded in 1570–80; earlier taptoo, from Dutch taptoe, literally, “shut tap,” from tap “spigot, tap” + toe “closed, shut”; cognate with tap 2 ( def. ), to ( def. )
Origin of tattoo2
First recorded in 1760–70; from Marquesan tatu; replacing tattow, from Tahitian tatau
Explanation
A tattoo is a permanent design made on skin with a needle and ink. If you want a butterfly tattoo but you're scared of needles, you might settle for a temporary version. The word tattoo is also a verb meaning stain the skin using needles and ink. It's probably a good idea to wait until you've been dating someone for more than a week before you tattoo their name on your arm. In music, a tattoo is continuous drumming, and a military tattoo is a drum or bugle that signals soldiers to return to their quarters at the end of the day.
Vocabulary lists containing tattoo
"The Tell-Tale Heart," Vocabulary from the short story
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Commonly Misspelled Words, List 1
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Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Artwork by his son Naviyd is featured on the walls, while an enlarged drawing of a tattoo that Usher has on his chin has been turned into a decorative ceiling mural.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026
“Nobody is going to get a tattoo, but hair grows every day,” Fonseca said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
More people than ever are going under the needle as a form of self-expression: 40% of British 25-49 year-olds have at least one tattoo, according to a 2024 YouGov poll.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
In the portrait, Lobga sits a few blocks from the U.N. on the red-carpet steps of a pricey Manhattan restaurant and is seemingly drawing attention to the sizable Tibet independence tattoo on his right arm.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
He leans over and whispers, “What’s her tattoo of?”
From "Shouting at the Rain" by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
Russians’ social media feeds filled up with videos of people biting into apples, lip-syncing to songs about apples and inking tattoos with the fruit that is the party’s symbol.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 22, 2026
The rumors were further fueled when one person commented that the musician’s signature hand tattoos were not visible in the video.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026
Thirteen years later, Bauers has a beard, tattoos and is in his seventh major league season as the first baseman for the Milwaukee Brewers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026
Smith, who is based in Broadstairs, Kent, specialises in fine line and dot work tattoos.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
A large evil-looking rat, covered in tattoos and carrying a rusty cutlass, had turned up at the gate.
From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques
Almost an hour into the conversation, the comedian reveals that he has Joan Didion’s author photo tattooed on his chest.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026
Another man had a shallot tattooed on his forearm, suggesting either a career behind the line or an allium devotion I could not hope to match.
From Salon ● Aug. 4, 2026
The longtime CIA operative had exfiltrated the families of spies from the most repressive of Middle Eastern regimes and tattooed the word “ARGONAUT,” an homage to seafaring heroes from Greek mythology, across his right forearm.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026
But he did not want her to have laser treatment because it would take too long, so he suggested the doctor cut the tattooed skin off.
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026
She read the number tattooed on his arm and checked it against a list on a clipboard the soldier carried.
From "Prisoner B-3087" by Alan Gratz
Although banned at home, Korean tattooing took off globally.
From BBC ● May 29, 2026
“People started tattooing ‘Dios Por Delante’ on their forearms and neck and that’s when we realized that this was more than music, it’s a movement,” Joel said of the impact of the latter song.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 25, 2026
While he sported multiple tattoos, these days “people are tattooing their entire faces—and then having surgery to remove their lips and ears, so they look like aliens.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2025
Ahead of its passing, the Korean Medical Association said tattooing "not only damages the skin but can also pose other health risks, including interference with cancer diagnosis".
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2025
They scrubbed him so much that the arabesques of his tattooing began to fade.
From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
