Where did the semicolon tattoo come from?

From Project Semicolon, started in the United States in 2013 by Amy Bleuel in memory of her father, who died by suicide. It began as a day on which people drew a semicolon on their wrist and shared it, moved from pen to ink almost at once, and became a mental health organisation. It is one of very few tattoo symbols with a single known origin and a date.

Do you have to have attempted suicide to get a semicolon tattoo?

No. People wear it for their own struggle in any form, for someone they lost, or as a plain statement that they are a safe person to talk to. There is no rule about who may wear it, and nobody wearing one owes anyone the story.

What does a butterfly semicolon tattoo mean?

The semicolon drawn as the body of a butterfly. It joins the mark of continuing with the butterfly's reading of change, and it is a recent design that grew out of the original one rather than a separate tradition. People choose it when the continuing came with becoming somebody different.

Where do people put a semicolon tattoo?

The inner wrist is the original place, because the project began with people drawing one there. Behind the ear, a finger, the ankle and the collarbone are the other common spots. It is small by nature and takes one short sitting.

Semicolon Tattoo Meaning, and Where It Began

Q: What does a semicolon tattoo mean?

A sentence the writer could have ended and chose to continue. It comes from Project Semicolon, begun in 2013, and it is worn by people who have lived through suicidal thoughts, self-harm, depression or the loss of someone to suicide, and by people standing beside them. The author is the person wearing it and the sentence is their life.

What it means

A semicolon is the mark a writer uses where a sentence could have ended and did not. The tattoo means that. The author is the person wearing it and the sentence is their life.

It is worn by people who have lived through suicidal thoughts, self-harm, depression or anxiety, by people who have lost someone to suicide, and by people who want it known that they are safe to talk to. It says the story is still being written. It does not say anything about how hard the writing has been, and it does not have to.

Where it comes from

Project Semicolon was started in the United States in 2013 by Amy Bleuel, in memory of her father, who had died by suicide. It began as a single day: draw a semicolon on your wrist and share the picture. People did, and within weeks the pen had turned into ink. The project became a mental health organisation, and its own site still describes the mark as a declaration that your story is not over.

Amy Bleuel died by suicide in 2017, at 31. People sometimes raise that as if it took something away from the idea. It does not. The mark was never a claim that the hard part was finished. It is a mark of continuing for as long as you can, with help, and her death is the plainest reason the help has to be real rather than a slogan.

Most symbols on this site have meanings that drifted over centuries and got written down by people copying lists. This one has a founder, a year and a reason, which is why it carries the weight it does and why nobody argues about what it means.

What it does not say

It is not a diagnosis and it does not announce one. A person with a semicolon on their wrist has told you that they chose to continue, or that they stand with somebody who did, and nothing else. Do not ask which. If they want to tell you, they will.

It is also not a promise. People wear it in the middle of the struggle as well as after it, and some wear it knowing there will be bad days again. That is allowed. The mark is about the sentence going on, not about it going smoothly.

If you are reading this at a bad moment

If you are thinking about ending your life, or about hurting yourself, you can talk to somebody now, in the Philippines, at any hour, for free from a landline.

NCMH Crisis Hotline: 1553, toll free from a landline anywhere in the country.
Smart or TNT: 0919 057 1553.
Globe or TM: 0917 899 8727 or 0966 351 4518.
1800 1888 1553, the toll-free line for mobile users.
In an emergency, 911.

Checked on 8 October 2026. The NCMH Crisis Hotline’s own public advisory of 15 July 2026 lists 1553 and 0919 057 1553 as its official numbers and says it answers 24 hours a day, and a report on 21 September 2026 quoting the NCMH director listed the Globe numbers and the 1800 line. The hotline is run by the National Center for Mental Health under the Department of Health, and its contact page carries the current list. Mobile numbers change more often than the short code does, so if one does not connect, try 1553 or check that page.

You do not need a reason that sounds serious enough. Wanting someone to talk to is the reason.

The variations

The butterfly semicolon. The mark drawn as the body of a butterfly, which joins continuing with change. It grew out of the original design rather than coming from anywhere else.

The heartbeat line. A semicolon inside the trace of a heart monitor. Alive, and still going.

Inside a word. The semicolon standing in for a letter in a word like continue or warrior. Lettering is permanent in a way a shape is not, so check the spelling twice.

The cat. The dot and the comma drawn as a cat’s face and tail, or as whiskers. Lighter, and chosen by people who want the meaning without the solemnity.

With flowers, with a lotus, with a moon. Each addition is a second symbol with its own reading. The lotus, and which readings are old covers the one most often paired with it.

Getting one, if and when

The inner wrist is where it started and where most of them still go. Behind the ear, a finger, the ankle and the collarbone are the others. It is small by nature, a single short sitting, and the wrist and ankle are near the easy end of the pain chart.

Two practical things. A semicolon is usually done in a single thin line, and thin lines soften over the years, so a piece the size of a fingernail will want a look again within a year or two; when a touch up is due explains why. And a finger tattoo fades faster than anywhere else on the body, so if it is going on a finger, go in knowing that.

There is no gallery of semicolons on this site, on purpose, and nothing on this page is selling one. If you want to see what small fine-line pieces look like when you are ready to look, the minimalist designs are there.

Semicolon Tattoo Meaning: Project Semicolon, and What the Mark Says