World2 min(s) read
Published 10:30 20 May 2026 GMT
Body art can be traced back to the formative years of humanity — from ritualistic meanings to associations steeped in beauty, spirituality, and freedom of expression.
In recent times, being tattooed in a certain area with a specific symbol can often indicate a particular meaning, and in the criminal underworld, the teardrop under the eye has become synonymous with murder and jail time.
A lesser-known symbol is the so-called ‘five dot tattoo’ — a small design that is usually tattooed on a person’s hand. The tattoo, also known as the quincunx, the intricate, almost imperceptible pattern, will be in the shape of a square with a central dot.
Similar to its ink-based ancestor, the teardrop, this body drawing bears associations with a criminal past, with dots replicating the four wall corners of a prison cell, with the inner dot being the person.
The tattoo is most commonly located on a person’s hand, between their thumb and forefinger.
On Reddit, one user enquired what it meant after noticing it on their neighbor's hand. They asked: "I've got a new neighbour and noticed he had this tattoo, too – it's super simple, five dots in a cross shape, kinda like the Portuguese coat of arms near the thumb on his hand. It's weird because I've run into guys with that exact same tattoo a bunch of times; even the waiter on my recent vacation had one. Anyone know what it means? And why do people from such different places have it?"
In the replies, one person said: "Are you talking about a quincunx? If so, the most common one is a prison tattoo. The four outer dots represent the four walls of the cell and the central dot represents the prisoner."
A popular symbol amongst Russian crime gangs, as well as those involved in illicit enterprises, the tattoo has an element of notoriety attached to it.
According to Claudio Traina, a tattoo artist based in England and Italy, it’s crucial that people research their body art before making the permanent decision: “In Russia, the prison tattoos hold such strong meanings that if you misrepresent yourself through tattoos you will lose fingers.
“Nowadays, people do these kinds of tattoos just for the aesthetic, which can make things complicated if you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Like their criminal counterparts in Eastern Europe, the United States also has ties with the tattoo, with several gangs in the US known to use the same symbol.
Ultimately, it’s a matter of preference, with some finding the body art peculiar: "If I got out of jail, the last thing I'd want to do is get a tattoo to show everyone I'd been inside. But that's just me, who knows," one person wrote.
But another said: "You might be proud of that and want to show it off with a tattoo, who knows."
