tattoo
1 Americannoun
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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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the act or practice of marking the skin with indelible patterns, pictures, legends, etc., by making punctures in it and inserting pigments.
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a pattern, picture, legend, etc., so made.
verb (used with object)
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to mark (the skin) with tattoos.
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to put (tattoos) on the skin.
noun
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(formerly) a signal by drum or bugle ordering the military to return to their quarters
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a military display or pageant, usually at night
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any similar beating on a drum, etc
verb
noun
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a design made by this process
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the practice of tattooing
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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tattoosimple
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tattoossimple
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have tattooedperfect
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has tattooedperfect
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am tattooingprogressive
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are tattooingprogressive
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is tattooingprogressive
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have been tattooingperfect progressive
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has been tattooingperfect progressive
Past
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tattooedsimple
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had tattooedperfect
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was tattooingprogressive
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were tattooingprogressive
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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.
According to the Tattoo Union, the vast majority of victims were young women tattooists who feared reporting it to police because they could incriminate themselves in the process.
From BBC • May 29, 2026
Rollins also crossed over to a non-jazz audience with occasional forays into rock, most notably his appearances on The Rolling Stones' 1981 album "Tattoo You."
From Barron's • May 26, 2026
Next door, at Caveman Kyle’s American Art Tattoo Studio, artist Derrick Seymour said he expects business to increase if troops are mobilized.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 9, 2026
The countryside area is typically quiet, but about 170,000 people descend on the RAF site every July for the Royal International Air Tattoo, which is the largest military air show in the world.
From BBC • Mar. 2, 2026
The mother scurries to her son on her knees and tenderly wraps him in her arms, trying to protect him, shifting her body away from Compass Tattoo.
From "Internment" by Samira Ahmed
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.
