Butterfly tattoos are some of the most meaningful tattoos you can ink on your skin.
On its own, the delicate butterfly tattoo is a deep and powerful representation of life and overcoming its challenges.
The butterfly tattoo symbolizes self-development, evolution, and even rebirth.
Just as the butterfly emerges, majestically, from a humble caterpillar, the butterfly tattoo is a symbol of change and a new you.
The papillon tattoo gains many meanings in combination with other elements, shapes, and colors.
In this article, I’ll introduce you to the best butterfly tattoos and the meanings behind each one to help you get inspired and choose the perfect ink for you.
Butterfly Tattoos with Meaning
The butterfly tattoo carries several innate meanings, depending on the color, size, body location, and local culture.
Yet, the overall shared symbolism is one’s ability to overcome a severe life hurdle and positive transformation.
Incorporating names, dates, and lines of text with meanings works wonders with butterfly tattoos, further increasing the symbolism and look.
Some of the best butterfly tattoos with meanings I know comprise loved ones’ names and love quotes, carried as life talismans.
Small Butterfly Tattoos
For a butterfly tattoo to depict and represent its meaning, it doesn’t have to be large.
Small butterfly tattoos can deliver incredible visual impact, showcasing your unique character.
While you’ll come across many small butterfly tattoo ideas, some of the best bring a sense of love, hope, and positive change.
In my experience, the best small butterfly tattoo is designed to replace powerful talismans that remind the wearers of their greatest achievements.
Hand Butterfly Tattoos
The most common papillon tattoo is the butterfly hand tattoo.
Without going for a heavy and maximalist design, the hand placement flatters the shape of the butterfly best.
While hand butterfly tattoos are visible to everyone around you, thankfully, they represent a warm-hearted, friendly, and loving person.
Also, hand butterfly tattoos showcase your open-mindedness, adventurousness, and love of nature.
Above all, a hand butterfly tattoo on a well-manicured hand will enhance your sex appeal.
Simple Butterfly Tattoos
Not all butterfly tattoos are complex or colored – simplicity and subtle shading are always beautiful.
Mostly in black and white simple butterfly tattoos preserve better in the long run.
Moreover, having your winged creature as a minimal tattoo – a moth tattoo style – adds an extra element of uniqueness to your style.
So if you are worried about colors fading with time, a simple outline butterfly tattoo is the way forward.
Neck Butterfly Tattoos
As the neck and throat are associated with communication and engagements, neck tattoos symbolize being open to new people and experiences.
Equally, neck butterfly tattoos symbolize the wearer’s desire to communicate how they’ve overcome past issues and challenges to become better people.
Right now, one of the most popular butterfly neck tattoos comprises a butterfly image in light shading with wing patterns.
Butterfly with Flower Tattoos
Flowers are another excellent element that looks great in combination with butterfly tattoos.
From roses to chrysanthemums, flowers further enhance the meanings of butterfly tattoos, adding extra layers of love, passion, and sensuality.
The colors of the flowers also matter, and you can use variations to stand out from the crowd.
Semicolon Butterfly Tattoos
The semicolon tattoo (on its own) symbolizes solidarity with those who have dealt with suicide, depression, addiction, and other mental health issues (or overcoming them yourself).
Just as this punctuation mark is a sign for readers to pause before continuing the sentence, people wearing the semicolon butterfly tattoo use it as a reminder that their story isn’t over.
A great tattoo choice for suicide survivors and those who battle emotional trauma every day.
Arm Butterfly Tattoos
I find single-line artistic arm tattoos a style all of their own. Add to that butterflies, and you’re on a different level.
Symbolizing love and connectivity with other people, arm butterfly tattoos in ethereal colors – like the see-through wings of butterflies – look spectacular.
While the color palette you can put on your arm butterfly tattoo has no limits, make sure you choose something that emphasizes its significance.
Back Butterfly Tattoos
In most cultures, the back and spine represent the core of one’s life.
A butterfly tattoo on the back is a celebration of life, representing full power and strength, depending on the other symbol you choose to blend it with.
For example, a full-back butterfly tattoo in a mandala style looks stunning!
You can also insert quotes in your back butterfly tattoo and finish it with delicate flowers – where the words act as the stems.
Thigh Butterfly Tattoos
The most visible parts of the body, like the wrists, neck, shoulders, fingers, and ankles, are highly suitable for tiny butterfly tattoos.
For larger butterfly tattoos, the back, legs, chest, and thighs, in particular, are ideal places.
Given the location, thigh butterfly tattoos carry a profoundly personal or sentimental touch, depicting a whole story of love and synergy.
Based on your preferences, you can pair your butterfly thigh tattoo with flowers for a personal effect.
Blue Butterfly Tattoos
Blue butterfly tattoos remind you to be at peace with yourself and your life.
Blue is a color of calm and joy, while the butterfly suggests birth and rebirth as you cycle through a new phase in your life journey.
Other significant meanings of the blue butterfly tattoo are faithfulness and reliability.
3D Butterfly Tattoos
If we’re being literal, 3D tattoos take tattoo art to another level – or another dimension.
These photorealistic tattoos are one of the more contemporary trends in tattooing, requiring a great deal of creativity, thought, and, most importantly, talent on the tattoo artist’s part.
The best tattoos of this nature will be realistic enough to look like photographs.
3D Blue Butterfly Tattoo on a Woman’s Shoulder
Shoulders and clavicles are the most feminine spots to place tiny butterfly tattoos on.
Going too big will look drastic against your overall look, whereas going too small will make your tattoo too unnoticeable.
That’s where 3D blue butterfly tattoos come in; ultra-realistic in a perfect blue color, the style will make the insect look like sitting on your shoulder, capturing the liveness of a flying butterfly.
Monarch Butterfly Tattoos
One of the most beautiful sights you can experience is the migration of Monarch butterflies in autumn.
I experienced mine while hiking near the Delaware Water Gap, and the monarch butterflies were orange and black – thousands of them; it was spectacular.
Transforming from an ugly worm to a regal-looking butterfly, the monarch butterfly tattoo symbolizes evolution and significant life change.
Red Butterfly Tattoos
In a world of millions of tattooing colors, there are matching options for butterfly tattoos as well.
Red shades have historically meant feminity, and red butterflies have long been associated with love and romance.
In many cultures, fluttering a red butterfly’s wings is believed to signify a lover’s promise.
Red is often seen as a symbol of desire and passion, making it the perfect color for a butterfly that represents love.
Skull Butterfly Tattoos
Skull tattoos symbolize strength and power, conferring them with protection.
Skull tattoos can also symbolize the death of an old life, a past that has been defeated, and a change for the better has occurred.
Skulls (death) in combination with butterflies (new life) means overcoming a difficult challenge or death; a rebirth has happened, like a symbolic circle of life and death.
Wrist Butterfly Tattoos
Wrist tattoos became popular in the 50s and 60s amongst gay and lesbian communities.
In those decades, the members of those communities adopted wrist tattoos to represent their sexuality.
Nowadays, butterfly tattoos on the wrist hold deep personal significance about one’s sexual views and hurdles they had to overcome.
Butterfly Tattoos Behind the Ear
Behind-the-ear tattoos symbolize “hearing the word of God and letting your faith guide your decisions.”
Butterfly tattoos behind the ear carry a similar deep meaning, as a constant voice reminding you of your strength to keep walking the path of a new and better life.
Butterfly Tattoos on Shoulder
The combo of butterflies and flowers in vibrant colors is one of the most popular tattoos for women.
Shoulders and clavicles are the most feminine spots to place tiny butterfly tattoos on.
Going too big will look drastic against your overall look, whereas going too small will make your tattoo too unnoticeable.
Butterfly and Roses Tattoos
While roses can have different meanings across cultures, they are always seen as a symbol of beauty and romance.
Combined with butterfly tattoos, roses symbolize a new love, be that for life or a new partner.
Traditional Butterfly Tattoos
Traditional tattoos, also known as American, Western, or Old School, are one of the boldest and most iconic tattoo styles.
The traditional tattooing style is characterized by clean black outlines, vivid colors, and minimal shading.
As such, traditional butterfly tattoos carry those characteristics, regardless of the tattoo color, shape, or size.
Butterfly Tattoos on Ankle
Placing tattoos on ankles holds a lot of meaning!
In the past, people used to wear an “anklet” at the passing of a loved one – as a special memory to carry forever.
Nowadays, an anklet tattoo symbolizes the end of a special relationship.
When a butterfly tattoo is placed on the ankle, it means that a significant chapter of the wearer’s life has ended but is still in their memory.
Butterfly Tattoos on Leg
Another place of high symbolism for tattoo placement is the legs.
Legs, just like shoulders, represent the burdens you carry.
As such, butterfly tattoos on the lower legs represent what you’re working (or moving) towards.
Butterfly Tattoos on Chest
Placing the wearer’s meanings in a “face forward” section, chest tattoos carry some of the most potent symbols.
For men, butterfly chest tattoos are a unique hallmark of sensitivity, masculinity, softness, and strength.
For women, butterfly chest tattoos depict a person of light, freedom, independence, and wisdom.
Foot Butterfly Tattoos
When well-proportioned and subtle in terms of color, foot butterfly tattoos look better than any accessories you can buy.
Moreover, cute butterfly tattoos on your foot create a positive mood with a sense of lightness and warmth.
Moreover, foot butterfly tattoos look amazing when paired with trendy sandals or good old wedges.
Butterfly Sleeve Tattoos
In most cases, sleeve tattoos are used to create a cohesive theme connected by style and color.
However, more recently, mixed assortments of different tattoos are becoming increasingly popular, allowing people to express unique meanings.
Butterfly sleeve tattoos are a beautiful combination of both worlds, a theme on your sleeve about the story of your life and how you continue to improve.
Forearm Butterfly Tattoos
Tattoos placed on the forearm mean a few things.
First, because it’s so visible, it can represent confidence and honesty.
But placing your butterfly tattoo on your forearm signals that you’re “wearing your heart on your sleeve.”
Sunflower and Butterfly Tattoos
Delicate sunflowers blended in butterfly tattoos are highly creative.
Thanks to the myth of Clytie and Apollo, sunflowers symbolize loyalty and adoration.
In conjunction with a butterfly tattoo, it symbolizes one’s passing to “the summer of their life.”
Also, thanks to their association with the sun, sunflowers are well-known for being happy flowers and the perfect bloom for a summer flower delivery to brighten someone’s mood!
Moreover, you can use the flower’s stem as a quote and take those meaningful words to the next level.
Finger Butterfly Tattoos
Given the limited space, finger tattoos indicate concise people.
As such, the wearer has a small space to convey the tattoo’s important message.
Most commonly, you’ll find words and letter tattoos on the fingers.
But, when you see a finger butterfly tattoo, you know that the wearer loves freedom and independence.
Purple Butterfly Tattoos
Purple color is associated with royalty, nobility, luxury, power, and wisdom.
Purple tattoos symbolize creativity, dignity, grandeur, devotion, pride, mystery, ambition, and magic.
Purple butterfly tattoos represent you’re on your way to wealth, extravagance, and independence.
Butterfly Watercolor Tattoos
Watercolor butterfly tattoo ideas are a world apart.
The tattoo retains the original meaning – according to the extra elements you want to add – but the light effect makes it stand out.
Choose colors that give your beautiful tattoo design a touch of sweetness and liveliness simultaneously.
FAQs
What Does a Butterfly Tattoo Mean?
A single butterfly tattoo means young love – as butterflies fly among flowers, so do young people with their social lives.
The butterfly tattoo is also a deep and powerful representation of life and overcoming its challenges.
What Does a Butterfly Tattoo Symbolize?
The butterfly tattoo symbolizes change and a new you, just as the butterfly emerges, majestically, from a humble caterpillar.
In Chinese culture, butterflies symbolize immortality, joy, grace, and summer.
A white butterfly tattoo also symbolizes self-development, evolution, and even one’s rebirth.
What Does a Butterfly Tattoo Mean on a Woman?
A butterfly tattoo on a woman carries the meaning of rebirth and overcoming a big life hurdle.
Just as the butterfly emerges, majestically, from a humble caterpillar, the butterfly tattoo is a symbol of change and a new you.
What Does a Butterfly Tattoo Mean on a Man?
Butterfly Tattoos are one of the unique tattoo ideas for men that have become popular thanks to Harry Styles.
A butterfly tattoo inked on a man symbolizes transformation, new beginnings, and overcoming mental health challenges.
Conclusion
From black butterfly tattoos and realistic tattoos in geometric designs to yellow butterflies in negative space, we’ve got them all.
Each butterfly tattoo pic presented in this article is unique and selected to depict elegance and grace, just like the beautiful insect it describes.
Moreover, each butterfly tattoo design in this article breathes a sense of individualism and character only seen in live butterflies, full of freedom, life, and happiness.
Depending on the combination with other elements, such as floral tattoos, butterfly tattoos can represent life, the love of life, and the freedom to live your life with independence and flair.
Weekly Newsletter
Keep up with the latest in fashion, beauty and style!
Now it’s your turn…
Which one of these butterfly tattoos are you going to take, and why?
Which butterfly tattoo design do you think we’ve missed and should include in our next article update?
Please leave your comments below; we always appreciate your comments and use them to learn, improve, and update these articles.
Driven by a deep passion for the environment and a desperate need to do something to save it, Rebecca's true love lies in environmental justice, currently studying for a Master's degree in 'Conservation and Biodiversity' at The University of Exeter. With years of expertise in the worlds of advertising, PR, events, and movie publicity, Rebecca's lifestyle, sustainability, and wildlife content intrigue, inspire, and mobilize.
The transformed butterfly creature also depicts human transformation, which is why it is regarded as an excellent tattoo theme. I loved it when I tried it once at a wedding and my friends were all astonished. They thought it was true! I also used a matte finish to give it a more realistic appearance.