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Tattoo Meaning

Bat Tattoo Meaning: Chinese Fú-Bat Good Fortune, Gothic Vampire-Bat, and American Traditional

Bat tattoo meaning across Chinese good-fortune fú iconography, Gothic and vampire-bat imagery, Halloween/horror styles, and American traditional.

Published

Scientific illustration plate of fifteen bat species from Ernst Haeckel's Kunstformen der Natur, 1904.
Plate 67 (Chiroptera) from Ernst Haeckel's Kunstformen der Natur (1904). Bat tattoos carry dual symbolism: in Chinese culture, the bat (biānfú, 蝙蝠) is an emblem of good fortune (the word fú, 福, is homophonous with 'bat'); in Western Gothic tradition the bat signals liminality, the boundary between day and night, life and death. Ernst Haeckel, Kunstformen der Natur (1904), plate 67. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.

Bat tattoos split sharply by cultural register. Chinese-inspired fú-bat (蝠/福) tattoos read good-fortune — five bats represent the Five Blessings (Wǔfú). Western Gothic / vampire-bat tattoos read shadow-work, transformation, and Bram Stoker Dracula lineage. Halloween-horror style bats read seasonal-spooky. See our bat spirit-animal page for the full Camazotz / Chinese / Aristotle / European-witch treatment.

Bat tattoos split by cultural register: Chinese fú-bat good-fortune, Western Gothic vampire-bat, or Halloween seasonal. See our bat spirit-animal page.

See the full spirit-animal meaning: Bat Spirit Animal .

Frequently asked

What does a bat tattoo mean?
Depends sharply by cultural register. Chinese fú-bat = good fortune. Gothic vampire-bat = shadow-work, transformation. Maya Camazotz-inspired = death-and-underworld. See our bat spirit-animal page for the full record.

Sources

  1. REFERENCEOur bat spirit-animal page
  2. PEER-REVIEWEDTerese Tse Bartholomew, Hidden Meanings in Chinese Art — Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, 2006.