English → Latin
“tattoo” in Latin
recipiōto take back, (i.e., regain possession of something); to recapture; to receive, accept, admitīnscrībōto write in or upon something, inscribe; furnish with an inscription, give a title to a book; to ascribe, assign, attribvirgātusmade of twigs; stripedValeriusName of a patrician Roman gens.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
tattoo s.
*sonus tympani vespertinus (Bau., receptus, signal for retreat, in the Roman sense). To beat the tattoo, *revocare milites signo vespertino (Bau. receptui canere, in the Roman sense).
tattoo v.
corpus notis compungere (Cic., Off., 2, 7, 25): notis persignare: notis inscribere (Vid: Plin., 18, 3, 4). to tattoo one’s self, corpus notis compungere or inscribere; corpus omne notis persignare: tattooed, notis compunctus; virgatus (Valerius, Fl., 2, 159).
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for tattoo?
- The usual Latin words for “tattoo” are recipiō, īnscrībō, virgātus; also Valerius. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.