When people see the chain, there is often a negative connotation attached to the image and it makes sense. In most cases the chain represents locking someone up or holding them down. The phrase is used in many cases and people even refer to their significant other as the “old ball and chain”, representing the idea of imprisoning you in some way. Either way, there are a lot of reasons to get a chain tattoo and the chain holds a great deal of meaning for those that have the tattoo. Your best bet to find out what it means is to ask the person, but we’ll go over some meanings as well.

On the other hand, there a lot of chains that are used in other ways. Not all chains were used to restrain. Some are used to set you free in a sense or to hold something important in place. There are a lot of variations that we can talk about. We will get into it so you can understand that to have a chain tattoo isn’t always a negative thing.

In this post we will be talking a little about the history of the chain so you know where it came from. We will then talk about the chain tattoo and what it symbolizes. We will also talk about some different kinds of chains and different variations of the chain tattoo. We hope you get a few more ideas for a chain tattoo by the time you’re done reading this.

About the Chain

To begin, the chain was used in a way that helped more people than hurt. We thought it might be fun to address some of the ways chains were used back in the day outside of restraining people.

You can trace back the use of the chain back to 225 BC when the word was used to describe the tool used to draw a bucket of water up a well. This word first originated in the Indo-European language.

Sketches of the first steel chain were drawn by Leonardo da Vinci in the 16th century. These chains were most likely used to pull as opposed to wrapping around something. These chains had metal fittings, plates and pins.