12 Terrible Arabic Tattoos

posted on: Aug 3, 2016

BY: Alexa George/Contributing Writer

“Think before you ink” is a common phrase that hopefully crosses the mind of every person entertaining the notion of getting a tattoo. Finding the perfect tattoo is hard to do, especially if the tattoo in question is in another language. An even harder task is choosing a tattoo in Arabic. The beautiful flowing letters entice many avid tattoo seekers, but in reality most people without prior knowledge of the Arabic language should rethink their choices.

Here are some steps that should be taken before getting a tattoo in Arabic.

Step 1: Find the word you want in Arabic and consult with someone who knows the language well. Google translate is certainly helpful but sometimes fails to provide an adequate response.

Image Source: Walid Dib

For example, the phrase in the picture above literally translates to “I am decaying.” It’s not clear if the person wanted this message or not, but to each their own – right?

Image Source: Josh Berer

This phrase directly translates to “The Large Mother.” She intended for it to read “Big Momma” but that doesn’t exactly translate well in Arabic.

Image Source: Walid Dib

“The honey is sweeter from” is what this tattoo read. She most likely intended it to be “sweeter than honey” but hey, who knows.

Step 2: Make sure everything is spelled correctly. For example, in the Arabic language, words form by connecting letters together like cursive. Although there are a few letters that don’t flow into the next, it is important to make sure that the rest of the word is connected.

Image Source: Tattoos Hunt

Who knows what this is supposed to mean. Maybe it’s backwards and she wants it to read “Maria” but regardless, it is all wrong.

Image Source: Samantha Smith

Not a single letter in this tattoo is connected, so to the naked eye, this tattoo just looks like a bunch of Arabic letters taking up an entire arm.

Image Source: Nisha Patel

There is no way to be sure what this tattoo is trying to say; letter connection is important!

Image Source: Al Bawaba

This tattoo reads, “Giving to the weaker”. Even though it’s equipped with some minor spelling issues, it’s almost translatable!

Image Source: Josh Berer

Well, the spelling is correct but without the connection. The word “queen” in Arabic looks like 4 random letters.

Image Source: Pinterest

Assuming that this means “fighter”, but yet again, the letters aren’t connected. Therefore, translating to nothing.

Step 3: The Arabic language should be written from right to left.

Image Source: This is Beirut

The backwards tattoo above is supposed to read “Earth”. If that were the case, the alif all the way to the left would be on the other side. The letters would also be connected.

Image Source: Josh Berer

This is another one that is backwards AND not connected. The intended word was “princess” -mission not accomplished.

Image source: Josh Berer

Honestly not even sure where to begin with this one.

The above photos serve as a warning to not automatically trust outside sources for anything Arabic. For anyone considering “getting inked” in Arabic, or in general, it’s imperative to double and occasionally triple-check your source.