Single word tattoos are typically a simple word that carries special meaning to the person getting the tattoo. Single words often express some ideal or trait, such as love, courage or beauty. Single word tattoos work well if you want a tattoo you can hide easily. However, single words can be in bigger letters to create larger tattoos.
You can make longer strings of words into tattoos but they typically require a large amount of space on the body and may be hard to cover up. A favorite short poem or phrase can make for a meaningful tattoo. For instance, a resolution such as carpe diem (seize the day in Greek) might be a maxim that you agree with and want to memorialize.
Getting word tattoos as Asian characters is also popular. While a word like courage may look boring spelled out in plain English the Chinese or Japanese character for the word may look more artistic. Another advantage to using Asian characters as word tattoos is a single character can often express words that require many letters in English, allowing the tattoo to cover a smaller area of skin.
Among those with religious beliefs, tattoos of a favorite passage such as a bible verse can be especially meaningful. A drawback is verses can be long, creating a long string of words. A tattoo of part of a verse or the title of the verse (John 3:16 for example) can be a way to have a smaller tattoo.
Another possibility for word tattoos is a name, such as that of your spouse or child. Name tattoos can be somewhat awkward as relationships can change over time. For instance, if you get a tattoo of your girlfriend's name, expecting that you will eventually get married and things don't work out, you may regret the decision.