Tattoo is a loanword from the Samoan word "tatau", meaning "to strike". The "Oxford English Dictionary" gives the etymology of tattoo as "In 18th c. tattaow, tattow. From Polynesian (Samoan, Tahitian, Tongan, etc.) tatau. In Marquesan, tatu." Before the importation of the Polynesian word, the practice of tattooing had been described in the West as painting, scarring or staining. The etymology of the body modification term is not to be confused with the origins of the word for the military drumbeat or performance — see "military tattoo". In this case, the English word "tattoo" is derived from the Dutch word "taptoe".
Samoan language and a reversed apostrophe, ' ("koma liliu" or "ʻokina"), indicates the glottal stop, as in many other Polynesian languages. The ' ("ʻokina") is often replaced by ("apostrophe") in modern usage. The additional letters h, k, r are used in foreign loanwords, apart from the single interjection "puke(ta)!" 'gotcha!'; although the sound is found in native words in colloquial speech, it is spelled t. The letter g represents a velar nasal, as in the English word "sing," rather than a voiced velar stop, as in the English "go." Thus, the correct pronunciation of Pago Pago is not "Pay-go Pay-go" but "Pah-ngo