Knuckle tattoo

A knuckle tattoo is a tattoo on the tops of a person's fingers, between the knuckles, commonly two groups of four-letter words or one eight-letter word. It is not necessarily a prison tattoo, as sometimes believed, but remains an unpopular form of tattoo—alongside hand tattoos in general—due to the difficulty of hiding it in situations such as a formal setting where it would be seen as crass. Some people also use their knuckles to tattoo drawings and images, sometimes in groups of four, such as the four symbols of a deck of playing cards.

Examples

In sailor tattoo traditions, deckhands may get HOLD / FAST as a charm to support their grip on rigging. The 2003 historical drama film ', set in 1805, portrayed a crew member with HOLD / FAST knuckle tattoos.