Teardrop Tattoo Meanings
Teardrop tattoo is mostly associated with prisoners, convicts, *gangsters, thugs, suffering or the loss of a loved one. But for every *individual, a teardrop tattoo may mean something else depending upon the *location of his teardrop tattoo and as a symbol it will be treated the *same way. Sometimes a teardrop tattoo may symbolize the membership of a *gang. Teardrop tattoos in prison signify the number of killings the *wearer has in his criminal record. It is a tattoo that is also inked for *every five years of hard suffering time a person has served in prison.
Teardrop tattoo may also indicate that a person has murdered someone in *his/her life inside or outside the prison. Although teardrop tattoos *have multiple meanings, most of the teardrop tattoos that we see in *mainstream culture today imply that the wearer has killed someone.
Teardrop Tattoo Meaning in Australia
In Australian prisons, teardrop tattoos had a tradition behind them. In *fact you will be surprised to know that the first ever teardrop tattoo, *the original one, was found in Australia. Teardrop tattoos were forcibly *inked among Australian prisoners on their inmates for serving time in *the prison for being child molesters and sexual abusers. When an inmate *in an Australian prison was about to be incarcerated for his crime, *other inmates would forcibly place a teardrop tattoo under right eye as *it gets visible as these prisoners used to be on the left side of their *prison cell. But this act is very rare in Australian prisons lately.
Teardrop Tattoo Meaning in United States
In the U.S, the meaning of a teardrop tattoo has changed drastically *over certain span of time. The Australian prison tradition was carried *forward to American prisoners too. Initially, teardrop tattoos were used *to show that a person was incarcerated for murdering someone. If the *reason behind getting inked was this, the teardrop would represent a *feeling of deep regret for that act and the prisoners would get such *tattoo after leaving the prison.
But at the same time in the United States, the people in civil world *(outside prison world) got inked with this teardrop tattoo design and *had a wholly different reason for getting one. The teardrop tattoo, at *that very same time, also meant the loss of a loved one. American men *would usually get inked with teardrop tattoo to symbolize loss of their *wives or a family member. Hence, the teardrop tattoo, ever since then, *started being a symbol of remembrance and memorial.
Teardrop Tattoo Under Eye Meaning
As I have mentioned earlier, the meaning of teardrop tattoo also depends *upon the color and location of the teardrop. If the teardrop tattoo is *just in the form of an outline, it implies that a friend of the wearer *was killed.
If a teardrop tattoo is coloured inside the outline, it *represents that the wearer's friend has been killed and the wearer has *taken revenge of his friend's death.
An empty tear thus symbolizes that a loved one has been killed or the *wearer has successfully shot someone else.
A filled teardrop tattoo *represents that a loved one has committed suicide or was killed by some *cause other than a murder. It could be an accident or a death penalty. A *teardrop
tattoo on face *with an empty top and a full bottom symbolizes that the wearer has *taken a revenge of the murder of a loved one. An empty teardrop tattoo *on face also symbolizes a person's time served in prison, which is *usually a year at least. Teardrop tattoo can also be inked as a *remembrance of a loved one who passed away while the wearer was *incarcerated. Today, a lot of celebrities in the mainstream like Lil' *Wayne and Amy Winehouse have gotten themselves inked with teardrop *tattoos and there are many fancy styles in which you can design a *teardrop tattoo for yourself and strategically place it near the corner *of the eye or on the cheek bones, and they would seem to be real tears.
Whatever could be the debate and the controversy about getting inked *with a teardrop tattoo, it certainly has a deep meaning for the one who *wears it, and should not be looked down otherwise. Today, since tattoos *have become a fashion statement amongst youth all over the world, a *teardrop tattoo can be inked purely for fashion and decorative purposes.