Zayn Malik’s 57 Tattoos & Their Meanings

One Directions ex-member Zain Javadd Malik popular as Zayn Malik is British Pakistani as his father was from Pakistan and mother an English descendant with an Irish influence. His music has acknowledged him with prestigious music awards including American Music award, Billboard Music Awards and MTV Video Music Award. His songs “Pillowtalk” and “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever” from Fifty Shades Darker ranked 1 and 2 respectively on the Billboards chart. He is also famous for his body inks because these body inks have always created controversies for him. Read below to know more about your favorite stars tatts and their meanings.

1. Model Gigi’s Eye on Chest

Zayn on his 25th birthday got the center of his chest inked with his girlfriend Gigi Hadid’s eyes who is an American model and also featured in his Billboards number 1 song “Pillowtalk.”  Zayn and Gigi who made a cute couple and lovingly called Zigi by their fans have recently broken up. Although, fans are going crazy now as they wanna know what Zayn will do with his ex-girlfriend’s tattoo!

2. Arabic Writing on Chest

Zayn has the upper side of his left chest inked with Arabic writing which translates to, “Be True To Who You Are.” Since his father follows Islam and therefore he is also inclined towards Islamic teachings.

3. Maternal Grandpa’s Name in Arabic

The pop star got the right side of his upper chest inked with the name of his maternal grandfather in Arabic which reads “Walter” when translated into English. He might be very close to his grandpa that he inscribed his name after his demise. This tattoo was his first-ever body ink.

4. Mandala Art on Chest

It seems as if Zayn loves to feel the pain while getting tattooed. He got his chest inked with a Mandala art just below Gigi’s eyes tattoo.

5. Criss Cross Symbol on Leg

The pop singer has inscribed a Criss Cross tattoo on his right leg below the knee. It resembles a hashtag symbol or a tic tac toe board. Earlier his tattoo was a secret but then he posted its picture on his Twitter account, “A proper secret is that I’ve got a tattoo on my leg. It’s a criss-cross symbol.”

6. Huge Snake Tattoo on Shoulder

Similar to Perrie Edwards snake tatt, Zayn has his right shoulder tattooed with an enormously huge and slithery snake. With this snake as just the beginning, he is ready to get his full arm inked tatted!

7. A Gun in The Waistband

The ex-member of One Direction, Zayn got a gun inked on his left side of the ribcage tucked in his waist. On the day of the release of the Midnight Memories, Zayn was spotted with this tattoo. Since gun symbolizes strength, power, protection, and safety so, this might be the reason that Zayn got his waist inked with this tattoo to show how bold is he.

8. Writing And Playing Card on The Side

The right side of his back near the ribcage is tattooed with the writing “a pirate’s life for me” below his playing card tattoo which consists of a crown at its center.

9. Lightning Bolt on Side of the Arm

The pop singer’s upper right arm is inked with a lightning bolt which is a symbol of sheer power. The lightning symbol is a simple yet elegant piece of artwork that is worth getting inked with.

10. Red Lips, Angels’ Wing, Goats head, Smoking Skull, Hindu Mandal Art And “M” on the Chest

Zayn has his chest tattooed with red lips surrounded by an angel’s wing with a horned goat head above it. To add to his list of tattoos he has also tattooed the right side of his chest with a patterned Mandal art with a letter “M” probably for his family’s name “Malik” or for his “Mind of Mine” album inside this beautiful pattern and a smoking skull beneath the Mandal art.

11. Dad’s Name on The Back Side of Ear

Being an international pop singer, he is still a grounded son and has immense love and respect for his parents. As a token of love, he has the backside of his right ear inked vertically downwards with the name of his dad, “Yaser.”

12. Comic Tattoos on the Leg

Zayn is crazy about comic characters and has his left leg below the knees inked with 3 comic characters which include the Incredible Hulk, a portrait of Batman DC Comic series Joker, Deadpool from the Marvel comic series, and his twin’s name “RODGER” in capital letters to which he denotes as his evil twin.

13. SGT 2 4 17 on Forearm

The tattoo lover Zayn who has his body almost completely covered with tattoos has inked “SGT 24 17” on his left forearm for his album Still Got Time which was released on 24 March 2017.

14. “Love” on Knuckles

Zayn added another tattoo to his tattoo collection by getting inked with a simple yet beautiful word in black ink that reads “Love.”

15. Symbols on Fingers

The prolific singer of his time, Zayn has his left-hand finger inked with graphical symbols. He has inscribed his little finger with an arrow consisting of 3 little triangles, a ring finger with a crescent moon and a dotted triangle, a diamond and an inverted v on the middle finger, and a Christ cross with 4 dots and an inverted v on the upper portion of the index finger.

16. UFO as a Coverup Tattoo

Zayn ended his 4 years long relationship with Perrie Edwards in 2015 and while he was in a relationship he got his upper right arm inked with the portrait of Perrie. But, since he ended his relationship with her so he replaced his ex’s tattoo with a flying UFO. It seems he is totally over his failed relationship with her.

17. War Sword Blade Inked With UV Ink 

Zayn’s right hand’s middle finger is inked with a war sword whose blade glows in the dark because it is tattooed using ultraviolet ink.

18. “Mind of Mine” Album’s Title Tattooed on Arm

The tattoo lover has the title of his album “Mind of Mind” tattooed on the upper side of his left arm with letters of variable shapes and sizes using different font styles.

19. Lotus Flower on Left Forearm

The solo singer has his left forearm inked with a greyish lotus flower just above his checkered flag tattoo which is in black and white color. Lotus is symbolic of beauty, rebirth, and harmony and after ending his relationship with his fiancee Pierre he might want to start afresh in life so got this beautiful tattoo inked.

20. Checkered Flag Tattoo

Zayn has his left hand inked with the checkered flag in black and white color and the checkered flag is symbolic of the end of a race. But, in the case of Zayn, he got this tattoo after he took an exit from the band boys “One Direction.” Also, Zayn’s lotus tattoo marks the beginning of his solo career.

21. Smoking Lips Tattoo on Hand

The right hand of Zayn Malik is inscribed with red-colored lips that are breathing out smoke.

22. Tiger Tattoo On Arm

Zayn has his upper right arm inked with a magnificent tiger. When asked about his tiger tattoo he revealed that he likes it because tigers represent strength, power, and force.

23. Wolf And Feather Tattooed on Leg

Zayn Malik has the front of his left leg below the knee inked with the head of a brown-coloured wolf along with 2 feathers. Because he is an admirer of Chris Brown whose tattoo collection includes a wolf tattoo on his neck therefore he might have got inspired by his work and that is the reason he got a wolf tattooed on his leg.

24. Pink Floyd Prism on Bicep

The inner side of Zayn Malik’s right bicep is inked with Floyd’s Prism which is an outline of a prism from where the light enters and forms a rainbow on the other side of the prism.

25. Black Heart as a Coverup Tattoo

To his existing Chinese “Born Lucky” tattoo, he covered it up with a heart, completely filled with black ink on the right side of his stomach. Maybe, he doesn’t need that tattoo anymore!

26. Writing on the Lower Left Side of The Stomach

On the lower left side of the stomach, there is a piece of writing which says, “DON’T THINK I WON’T” which are the lyrics from the song “Don’t Think I Won’t” sung by Mark Wills. It seems as if Zayn has something to say to someone through this tattoo.

27. Flying Bird Outlined on Hand

The solo singer Zayn Malik who took an exit from the One Direction band has the upper side of his hand inked with the outline of a flying bird. Since birds are symbolic of flying in the limitless sky with no boundaries to stop them so is the case with Zayn. Being a celebrity, he loves to move freely with no boundaries around him, and getting himself inked with a bird’s tatt is the best way to convey a message to the masses.

 28. Crossed Fingers on Forearm

“I Don’t Wanna Live Forever” singer Zayn has the outer side of his right forearm inked with a hand with 2 crossed fingers. Crossed fingers are used as a gesture to wish luck to someone.

29. Comic Symbol on Hand

To show his love for comic books he has the outer side of his right forearm inked with the word “ZAP.” When asked about the ZAP tattoo he explained, “Basically it stands for a society of club zappers. I and Louis are captain zappers and we have converted the rest of the boys, they are part of it.” He further added, “It just symbolizes my love for comic books. It filled a nice spot, and I’ve always loved comic book art.”

30. Microphone Tattoo on Forearm

The former One Direction singer, Zayn has completely covered his right forearm with body inks and the urge of being inked is still there in him. He has his singing mic inked on his right forearm with its wire wrapped around his wrist.

31. Post Breakup Tattoo

After his recent breakup with his long love Gigi Hadid, Zayn Malik has come up with a new tattoo on his head. He has got the back of his head inked with a magnificent rose. The rose inscribed by him has shades of black. Well, people may think of this act him as a way to get over his ex-girlfriend.

32. Screw on the Ankle 

The former member of the One Direction band, Zayn got his right ankle inked with a little screw symbol. All the members of the band have the same tattoo as they all have this habit of getting inked with the same tattoo.

33. “Friday?” Tattoo on Collarbone

The right side of the collarbone of the pop singer is inked with the word “Friday” with a question mark(?) near his Arabic tattoo. A few letters are in capitals and the rest are in small letters. There’s a mystery about his Friday tattoo as there is no clear reason stated by him for getting this word tattooed on his collarbone.

34. New Zealand’s Fantail Bird Inked Below The Neck

The back of Zayn’s neck is tattooed with a masterpiece by his tattoo artist which is New Zealand’s fantail bird in black and white color. He got this tattoo done while he was on a concert tour with his fellow bandmates in One Direction.

35. Yin Yang Tattooed on Wrist

Zayn Malik, a tattoo lover has hardly left any space on his body that is not covered with tattoos. The outer side of his left wrist is inked with a yin-yang tattoo with a black dot in the black region and a white dot in the white region which is a Chinese art form that represents that in this universe everything is interconnected even though if the things appear complementary to each other.

36. “MSG 3-12-12” Tattooed on Hand

The right hand of the star is inscribed with the word MSG which stands for Madison Square Garden where One Direction band performed on the date 3-12-12 which represents 3rd December 2012. This tattoo is positioned below his  ZAP tattoo.

37. “BUS” Tattoo on Hand

The outer side of Zayn Malik’s left hand is tattooed with the word “BUS1.” The singer got it inscribed as a memory of the One Direction band tour bus.

38. Folded Bandana on Elbow

The outer side of Zayn’s right elbow is inked with a folded bandana in black and white color. The edge of the bandana hangs down the elbow of Zayn’s hand.

39. “Chillin” And Palm Tree on Hand 

The Right hand of Zayn Malik’s hand is tattooed with the word “Chillin” in bubble letters with a palm tree hovering over the letters. This tattoo of Zayn lies in between his ZAP tattoo and the bandana tattoo.

40. Jigsaw Puzzle Tattoo

Zayn has a matching tattoo with his besties Anthony and Riach that of a tiny jigsaw puzzle outlined on the inner side of his right elbow.

41. Number Tattoos on Hand

Zayn has a handful of numbers tattoed of varying sizes randomly positioned on his right hand. These numbers include a large number 6 placed near his ZAP tattoo, another 6 though smaller in size near the microphone wire tatt on the wrist, yet another number 6 on the outer side of his wrist, number 1 placed below the crossed finger tattoo, another 1 placed above the crossed finger tattoo and a number 5 near the microphone tattoo. On rearranging, it forms Zayn’s X Factor audition number 1-6-5-6-1-6 which significantly changed his life thereafter. So, as a tribute, he has this lucky number tattooed on his hand.

42. Space Monkey on Upper Arm

The upper right arm of the singer is inked with a monkey wearing an astronaut’s helmet.

43. Geometric Shapes on Upper Arm

The upper right arm of Zayn Malik is inked with a few geometrical shapes including 2 squares, 1 triangle, and 1 circle. These shapes are placed adjacent to the lightning bolt and space monkey tattoo.

44. Flower Tattoo on Wrist

Zayn is known to have more than 40 tattoos of varying sizes, here is another one added to his collection. It is a henna-style flower that stretches from the middle of the left hand, grows in the middle, and extends through the wrist with the tattoo ink blending in completely.

45. Skull With Crossbones on Shoulder

The right shoulder of the singer is inked with a skull and crossbones. This tattoo is positioned below his “Friday?” tattoo. Zayn has even named this tattoo “Earl.”

46. Post Breakup Neck Tattoo

After his split from his girlfriend Gigi Hadid, Zayn has again added a tattoo to his tattoo collection. And this time it is a bigger one. Zayn has the upper region of the chest inked with some magnificent artwork. The pop star recently posted the picture and captioned it with “neck yat.”

47. Poem by Khalil Gibran

48. Tribal Design on Neck

Zayn Malik has a tribal tattoo on his neck that is done with minimal lines and dot work.

49. Modernistic Skull Tattoo on Arm

Zayn has a lot of variations of the skull tattoos and on his arm he has a modernistic skull.

50. Text on his Jaw

While Zayn likes to keep his beard, he has been clean-shaven multiple times which has revealed the text tattoo on his jawline. The meaning and the exact text have still not been revealed yet.

51. Castle on his Back

He has a huge caste tattoo done in gothic black ink along with pink floral patterns to make a contrast on his back.

52. Stereo on his Arm

He has a stereo on his arm which probably represents his love for music, given that he is a singer.

53. Mandala on Head

Zayn has a mandala tattoo on his head which is revealed when he keeps his hair short.

54. Number 6 on Arm

Along with his stereo and crossed finger tattoo, he also has a bold 6 number tattoo.

55. Bus 1 Tattoo on Hand

56. MSG with a Date on Arm

Zayn has multiple mandalas on his body like his head and chest. This one is on his hand and done with beautiful intricate work.

57. Skull Tattoo on Arm

Continuing with his obsession with skulls, he also has a skull tattoo on his arm.