Meaning & use
eraser tattoo
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountableinformal
A sore red patch on the skin made by rubbing a pencil eraser hard against it, usually as a dare or a game among young people.
Grammar: Countable: she showed everyone her eraser tattoo.
Patterns
- give someone an eraser tattoo
- get an eraser tattoo
He had an eraser tattoo on his forearm after a dare during recess.
The nurse noticed an eraser tattoo and asked gently how it got there.
A few classmates compared eraser tattoos at lunch.
Word forms
| plural | eraser tattoos |
|---|
Common combinations
- get an eraser tattoo
- He wanted to get an eraser tattoo to impress his friends.
- give someone an eraser tattoo
- She refused to let anyone give her an eraser tattoo.
- eraser tattoo challenge
- Teachers warned students about the eraser tattoo challenge.
- a painful eraser tattoo
- The painful eraser tattoo took days to heal.
Synonyms and how they differ
- friction burn
- Friction burn is the general medical-sounding term for skin damaged by rubbing, while eraser tattoo names the specific school-age dare.
- rubbing mark
- Rubbing mark is a plain descriptive phrase without the dare or fad flavor of eraser tattoo.
- rug burn
- Rug burn is a scrape from sliding across carpet, whereas an eraser tattoo is deliberately made.
Word family
Commonly confused: eraser tattoo or tattoo?
eraser tattoo vs tattoo
A real tattoo is a permanent ink design, while an eraser tattoo is only a temporary skin injury and not ink at all.
Practice
What is an eraser tattoo?
Choose one answer.
An eraser tattoo is a skin injury from rubbing, not ink. The other choices describe harmless things that are not skin wounds.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “eraser tattoo”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.