150+ Best Tribal Tattoo Designs and Meanings

Tribal tattoos originate from ancient times and had deep meaning. Nowadays they combine the style of original tribes and modern features. From noting social status and religious beliefs, the tribal tattoo became individual artistic expressions.

 

Tribal Tattoo Designs That Are Still Gorgeous Today

Usually, you’ll find more tribal tattoos for men online. That is not too surprising since the style is not as delicate as tattoo designs for women. Often, you will find tribal shoulder tattoo or tribal back tattoos, but there are also tribal tattoos inked on other areas of the body. There are so many choices of tribal tattoo designs that it certainly won’t be easy to just settle on a single design!

1. Half Body Tribal Tattoos for Men

Tribal tattoos for men can look amazing when inked on a big scale and with uniform shading just like in the image above. Even when the black ink has faded to look more gray-ish, it still looks amazing.

 

2. Tribal Back Tattoos

Usually, tribal tattoos for men extend from their arms to their back – the tattoo can expand in any directions that they want.

 

3. Tribal Tattoo Designs for Women

Typically, where tribal tattoo designs are involved, the designs are a lot smaller and intricate as compared to those on men. You can probably already see the difference from the first two images!

 

4. Spiralling Tribal Back Tattoos

Tribal tattoos do not need too much of an intricate shading, but this person took the time to include some good dotwork in this piece. That is certainly a matching design to the dotwork, don’t you think?

 

5. A Smaller Tribal Tattoo Design

It’s fine if you don’t want to commit to a full-sized tribal tattoo. Just go for a smaller design that lies on your arm like a sleeve tattoo – that works too!

 

6. Tribal Shoulder Tattoo

Most tribal shoulder tattoos also extend to the chest area. Tribal tattoos for men always look good across these two areas. This picture here is just a good example of this fact!

 

7. Tribal Tattoo for Women – Down the Length of the Body

 

8. Just the Thighs and Hips

Tribal tattoos have a very expressive, rich, passionate, and ferocious design. You can usually see animal motifs in the tribal tattoo designs, just like in this tattoo.

 

9. Cross Design Tribal Shoulder Tattoo

Shoulder tattoo for men can follow a cross design like this one. We love how there is a turtle design cleverly hidden inside this piece. Can you spot it?

 

10. Shoulder Tribal Tattoo with Inscriptions

Not all shoulder tribal tattoos look the same. In this case, there are some inscriptions to go along with the tribal design, and it looks great!

 

11. Half Completed Back Tribal Tattoo

This tattoo is an unfinished piece, yet it looks amazing already! It looks like this is a cover up tattoo for another different tattoo design underneath.

 

12. Arm Tribal Tattoos

Okay, this is one unique design that sort of reminds us of the Mayan tribe. It’s certainly an awesome tribal tattoo design well-suited for the arm areas!

 

13. Just Along the Shoulders & Neck

This simple tribal tattoo design also has a pair of wings along the side. Perhaps this is a slightly more modern twist to a tribal tattoo design! In any case, the pair of wings do look good with the tattoo.

 

14. Tribal Tattoo with Lotus

Here’s another different tribal tattoo design which has been personalized with something meaningful to the wearer. What do you think this tattoo represents when there’s a mix of tribal tattoos and lotus flowers?

 

15. Different Styles & Lines

The tribal tattoos here sport different styles and line thickness. Tribal tattoos for ladies tend to have thinner lines, while those for guys are thicker or more shaded. Such type of body art dates back to over 5000 years ago.

 

16. Just a Single Strip

This tribal back tattoo only takes up a small portion of the back instead of taking over the entire back. This is a little atypical when it comes to tribal tattoos for men, but hey, it’s gorgeous too!

It has the biggest variety of style because it depends on the diversity of different cultures and the tribe’s traditions. Initially, they were as an attribute of identification for members of different races and cultures.

 

17. Like an Armband

As you can see from the previous designs on this page, tribal tattoo designs do well when placed on the arm – in this case, looking like an armband tattoo itself!

 

Some Interesting Facts from the History

As you have understood the word “tribal” deals with a lot of things in connection to some tribe, so the origin of such kind of tattoos is quite interesting.

 

18. Tribal Tattoo Design with Ocean Life

Usually, you will see tribal tattoos with black outlines, but this one here is different – it’s outlined in blue! That’s a good color for an octopus though.

 

19. Celtic-Inspired Tribal Tattoos

This tribal tattoo design here must have taken some inspiration from Celtic tattoo designs. There’s the knots, the cyclic patterns and more!

 

20. Women’s Tribal Tattoo Down the Thighs

This is known as a Polynesian tattoo design. The difference between tribal tattoos and Polynesian tattoos are very small, it’s sometimes hard to tell them apart!

 

 

In ancient time they were used:

1. As an attribute of belonging to some tribe or social status;

 

 

2. As an expression of religious believes;

 

 

3. As a camouflage in the forest;

 

4. As a treatment similar to acupuncture, but with leaving of sights on the body;

 

 

5. As a way to communicate, for example, in Polynesia from which the word “tattoo” (originally as “tatau”) comes.

 

The Tribal Tattoo Symbol Meaning

Such tattoos are known to mean courage, audacity, dynamics, and expressiveness. As they are unique they reveal its bearer’s character and feelings.

According to its elements and sketch, a tribal tattoo can symbolize

• hope,

 

• balance,

 

• continuance,

 

• faith,

 

• eternal life, etc.

For every tribe and culture tattoo was the way of showing a connection or it was a reminder of some special event or phenomenon.

 

For ancient time Polynesia people were inspired by animals such as shark. For example, its teeth meant protection and shell symbolize wealth.

 

 

Peculiarities of Design

Such tattoos are highly symbolical and complicated, so it’s better to decide properly which design to choose.

1. Mixed color

More often it is made in black color, but very few are mixed colored, for example, sketch in red and black design is the most popular.

 

2. Depiction of the sun

 

3. Eagle

 

4. Celtic cross is the most popular

 

5.  There is also the scheme of the dragon,

 

6. lion

 

7. Zodiac thematic

 

8. Back design

For men, elements include Aztec culture with symbols of the sun and moon joined together. Back design for women is less massive and includes more modernized elements.

 

9. Turtle image

Turtle is a symbol of strength, long life, and wisdom.

 

10. Shoulder design

For both men and women, made up of different spirals and curves combined in complex design. Small components compose a big design.

 

11. Rib tattoos with long lines.

 

12. 3-side tattoos

 

13. Chest tattoos

They look like a t-shirt and have a very complex design and popular among men. Nowadays it is common to mix thick black lines with thinner black ones. They are combined in shape and forms not necessarily with tribal initial origin and meaning.

 

14. Tribal sleeve

Full sleeve tribal tattoos look absolutely amazing if the right design is picked.

 

Also, the half sleeve tribal tattoo designs that cover the whole hand and even shoulder.

 

15. Shoulder bold black cog piece with intricate flower shape below.

 

16. Tribal design with flowers is a good idea for women and girls.

Types of Tribal Tattoos

1. Maori tattoos were drawn on the face in New Zealand tribe.

 

Male version usually covered the whole man’s faces and female one covered only the area around the mouth and chin.

 

 

Maori believed when a person dies light will shine through him/her and the only tattoo shows who the person is.

Nowadays such tattoos incorporate some modern features and usually are going across the chest.

 

Leg tattoos were also popular among Maori people. They were used to cover the warrior for instilling fear to their opponents.

 

2. Haida tattoos of Native American tribe Haida.

 

They were influenced by astrology and also depicted animals. For example beavers,

bears,

thunderbirds,

and fish.

 

It was believed that tattooing such tribal depiction, you could take some power of that animal. To us, it’s a manly tribal tattoo that looks awesome.

 

3. Borneo tattoos of the tribe of Southeast Asia.

 

They were used to depict the symbol of protection as scorpions,

 

dogs in bold colors,

 

dragons,

 

flowers,

 

and spirals.

 

4. Hawaiian tribal tattoos.

In ancient times men often covered their bodies from head to toe. Depicting Gecko was the most popular as a symbol of supernatural power.

 

They depicted also orchid,

 

sea shark,

 

sea turtle,

 

 

Tiki (who was believed to be the first man on Earth), etc.

 

 

 

5. Polynesian tattoos.

There is also Tiki who was a semi-god in Polynesian culture and symbolized protection.

 

Tiki’s organs as nose, eyes, mouth, and side faces commonly are draw separated.

 

Another sketch illustrates turtle shell,

 

 

 

seashell,

 

 

ocean,

 

 

 

sun,

 

 

 

and Marquesan cross.

 

 

 

 

Where to Wear The Tribal Tattoo?

Tribal tattoos are worn by both men and women in different locations on the body depending on personal preference and chosen tribal tattoo design.

 

 

Such artistic design underlines body muscles and it looks outstanding on the man’s body.

 

 

Nevertheless, it looks great on the woman’s body also.

 

 

There is some difference between men and women ways to place a tattoo. The most appropriate places for men are chest,

 

arms,

 

legs,

 

shoulders,

 

back,

 

and face.

 

Many women wear it on the chin and lips like below.

 

Some on the neck,

 

and back.

 

What part of the body to chose depends also on the size of a sketch. Size could be small, middle and large. However, even the largest one is the combination of small lines, spirals, circles, etc. Such a tattoo also could stretch from ears to legs.

 

Most Maori tattoos are done on arms.

 

Celebrities With Tribal Tattoos

As you can see tribal tattoos have deep symbolical meaning and huge variation. That’ why you should think twice before choosing a design which is better for you. Such tattoos are also famous among celebrities as Mike Tyson,

 

Tommy Lee,

 

Jamie Foxx

 

 

 

 

and a lot of others.

 

Sketches of Tribal tattoo