Everything We Know About Zayn Malik's Many Tattoos

On Zayn Malik’s right hand, there’s a distinct “MSG 3-12-12” tattoo to signify the date that One Direction played their first show at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The band sold out the arena on Dec. 3, 2012.

Zayn Malik’s left forearm has a checkered flag and a lotus flower. He hasn’t mentioned any reasoning behind either of these tattoos, but he did get the checkered flag right around when he left One Direction. As the symbol of finishing a race, it’s very possible it was symbolic of his departure from the band, though he hasn’t openly said this.

Zayn Malik’s right arm has a whole mess of tattoos. In this picture you can see a bandana tattoo wrapped around the top of his arm, near his elbow. Below that he has the word “Chillin” with a little palm tree. In the middle of his arm he has a hand with fingers crossed. Beneath that you can see a number, and it’s part of his X Factor audition number, 165,616, which he has scattered around the arm. Other than the X Factor number, we don’t necessarily know the reasoning behind these other tattoos.

Near the checkered flag on Zayn Malik’s left arm, he has each of his sister’s names tattooed in Arabic. You’ll see each of Safaa, Waliyha, and Doniya’s names in small font inside his arm.

On Zayn Malik’s left leg, he has a collection of comic book characters, including Deadpool and the Joker, as well as a wolf and feathers. He also has the name Rodger scrolled on his leg, which he has joked is the name of his evil twin.

One of Zayn Malik’s earliest tattoos is the giant “ZAP!” inside a splat on his right arm. The splat was originally filled in with red, but he had it colored over with black later. He said back in 2012 when he got it that he and former bandmate Louis Tomlinson were captains in a secret society called “Club Zappers,” and the rest of the group were just on the board of directors. It’s a fitting nod to his love of comic books.

We’ve only scratched the surface of Zayn’s tattoos and I’m not even sure I know all of the ones he has! He just has so many. Here are the others that I do know he has that we haven’t already covered:

• Castle: Zayn has a huge castle piece on his back that we very rarely get to see since we don’t often catch a shirtless glimpse. You can sort of see it in this picture here.
• Fantail: Also on Zayn’s back is a New Zealand fantail bird that he reportedly got while in New Zealand. It’s at the top of his back, so it sometimes peeks out of the back of his shirts. You can see the top of it in the photo above of the back of his head.
• Stereo: On the inside of Zayn’s right arm, he has a stereo tattooed.
• Ink splatter: On that same arm is an ink splatter near his wrist. Zayn very much enjoys art, so this feels like a fitting nod to his hobby.
• Microphone: While still in One Direction, Zayn got a microphone on his right arm as well, near the stereo.
• Lightning bolt and shapes: Hidden among the rest of the ink on Zayn’s right arm are a lightning bolt outline and some other geometric shapes. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to these other than that they add to his sleeve design.
• Skull: There’s yet another skull on Zayn’s right arm, making for three human skull tattoos on his body.
• Pink Floyd logo: On the inside of Zayn’s upper right arm he has the Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon logo.
• Friday: On Zayn’s right collarbone, he has the word “Friday?” tattooed. It’s supposedly because he used to always ask the boys in One Direction if it was Friday.
• Crisscross: There is a sketch of a crisscross on Zayn’s right leg.
• Screws: On the inside of each of Zayn’s ankles, he has small Xs to look like the heads of screws. Each of the members of One Direction, minus Niall Horan, got this tattoo for unity and to help each other stay grounded.
• SGT: Zayn’s left arm has “SGT” tattooed for his single “Still Got Time.”
• Kahlil Gibran poem: In 2020, Zayn debuted the text from the Kahlil Gibran poem “On Love and Marriage” on his left arm. Though he hasn’t said anything about it, fans were quick to assume it was a nod to Gigi Hadid and their possible marriage in the future.
• Bus 1: A fan favorite tattoo of Zayn’s is the “Bus 1” that he has on his left hand. He and fellow One Direction member Louis Tomlinson got these matching tattoos while in the band because Bus 1 was the One Direction bus they considered their home away from home.