Five dots tattoo

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title: "Five dots tattoo" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["tattoo-designs", "dot-patterns", "romani-culture"] description: "Tattoo with various meanings" topic_path: "general/tattoo-designs" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_dots_tattoo" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Tattoo with various meanings ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/5_dots_tattoo.svg" caption="Illustration of five dots tattoo."] ::

The five dots tattoo is a tattoo of five dots arranged in a quincunx, usually on the outer surface of the hand, between the thumb and the index finger.

The tattoo has different meanings in different cultures—it has been variously interpreted as a fertility symbol, a reminder of sayings on how to treat women or police, a way members of People Nation or Nuestra Familia affiliated gangs identify themselves (People gangs use the number five, while Folk Nation gangs use six), a recognition symbol among the Romani people, a group of close friends, standing alone in the world, or time spent in prison (with the outer four dots representing the prison walls and the inner dot representing the prisoner).

Thomas Edison had this pattern tattooed on his forearm.

Unicode Character

References

References

1. Gilbert, Steve. (2000). "Tattoo history: a source book : an anthology of historical records of tattooing throughout the world". Juno Books.
2. Turner, Robert. (2005). "Kishkindha". Osiris Press Ltd.
3. Daye, Douglas D.. (1997). "A law enforcement sourcebook of Asian crime and cultures: tactics and mindsets". CRC Press.
4. Vigil, James Diego. (2002). "A rainbow of gangs: street cultures in the mega-city". University of Texas Press.
5. Baldayev, Danzig. (2006). "Russian criminal tattoo encyclopedia, Volume 3". FUEL Publishing.
6. (2006). "The Pocket Idiot's Guide to Not So Useless Facts". Penguin.

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