Spiritual Animals
Get in touch

Tattoo Meaning

Butterfly Tattoo Meaning: Japanese Chō, Mexican Monarch / Day of the Dead, and Y2K Revival

Butterfly tattoo meaning: Japanese chō (蝶) traditional irezumi, Mexican monarch-butterfly Día de los Muertos imagery, 1990s-2000s femme-pop lower-back revival, and Greek psyche allegorical designs.

Published

Marble sculpture by Canova of Cupid embracing Psyche, circa 1793, Louvre.
Canova's Psyche (c. 1793), Louvre. The Greek word psyche meant both 'soul' and 'butterfly' — a pun Plato uses in the Phaedo and Apuleius turns into a full narrative in The Golden Ass. Butterfly tattoos in Japanese irezumi descend from the association of butterflies with the souls of the dead (a belief documented in the Man'yoshu, c. 759 CE). Antonio Canova, Psyché ranimée (c. 1793). Musée du Louvre. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.

Butterfly tattoos most commonly mean transformation, renewal, and femininity. Specific traditions: Japanese irezumi chō (蝶) pair-butterfly motifs for marital bond; Mexican monarch-butterfly imagery for Día de los Muertos (November 1–2) returning-ancestors tradition; Greek psyche (soul / butterfly pun) allegorical designs from Apuleius and later Renaissance sources. The 1990s-2000s femme-pop lower-back butterfly tattoo revival is a specific American cultural moment with its own (sometimes unfortunate) associations.

Butterfly tattoos: transformation, renewal, femininity. See our butterfly spirit-animal page for the Greek psyche, Mexica Itzpapalotl, Zhuangzi, and Japanese chō treatment.

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

Frequently asked

What does a butterfly tattoo mean?
Most commonly transformation, renewal, and femininity. Specific cultural traditions: Japanese chō for marital bond, Mexican monarch-butterfly for Día de los Muertos, Greek psyche allegorical. See our butterfly spirit-animal page for the full tradition treatment.

Sources

  1. REFERENCEOur butterfly spirit-animal page
  2. PEER-REVIEWEDTakahiro Kitamura and Katie Kitamura, Tattoos of the Floating World — Hotei, 2003.