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The less common noun tattoo comes from the Dutch colloquialism "tap toe," which can be translated as "turn off the tap," though it was most often used to mean something like "Shut up! Cease!" The Dutch began using the word taptoe for a drum beat, and then English speakers borrowed the term (changing it slightly, to taptoo and, eventually, to tattoo). It was used especially by the military to name a drum beat (or possibly a bugle call) that signaled the day's end. This taptoo most likely led to our taps, a term for the final bugle call at night in the military.
Examples of tattoo in a Sentence
Sophie Lindberg, Kansas City Star, 4 June 2026
His forearm is tattooed with the numbers in Planck’s constant, which was fixed in 2019 in work that he was involved in.
—Katie Hunt, CNN Money, 7 May 2026
Mortensen had Paul’s initials tattooed on the inside of his lip, which Paul’s attorney pointed to as an example of his possessive nature.
—Hannah Schoenbaum, Chicago Tribune, 1 May 2026
His lips had been tattooed pink.
—Steven Gray, Time, 29 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for tattoo
Cite this Entry
“Tattoo.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tattoo. Accessed 9 Jun. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
tattoo
1 of 3 noun
tattoo
2 of 3 verbtattoo
3 of 3 nounNoun
from earlier taptoo "a call to go to quarters for the night," from Dutch taptoe (same meaning), from the phrase tap toe! "taps shut!," used as a signal that the taps, or faucets, on the wine casks in a barroom were closed for the night
Verb
from a word in the Polynesian language of Tahiti tatau (noun) "the act of marking or coloring the skin"
