A design or image that has been influenced by indigenous peoples; especially such a tattoo.
"The sailor proudly displayed his tribal arm tattoos, which featured intricate patterns inspired by the indigenous art of Polynesia."
In plain English: A tribal person is someone who belongs to and lives with a specific group of people united by shared traditions, culture, or ancestry.
"The tribal leader gathered everyone to discuss their next move."
Of or relating to tribes.
"The tribal leaders gathered to discuss their upcoming ceremony."
Usage: Use the adjective tribal when describing patterns, tattoos, or behaviors inspired by indigenous cultures rather than referring strictly to modern political groups. Avoid confusing this stylistic term with "ethnic," which specifically denotes shared cultural heritage and ancestry.
From Latin tribālis. By surface analysis, tribe + -al, first attested in the 1630s. The specific adjectival sense under the defunct theory of recapitulation derives from tribal history as an overly literal learned borrowing from German Stammesgeschichte; ordinarily, Stamm would only be translated as tribe when used in its ethnographic sense.