What is the symbolism of a teardrop tattoo?

when people have one or more teardrops under their eyes there usually part of gangs. if they have a filled in teardrop, that means they killed a person. if they have a non-filled teardrop it means that they have lost somebody. you can have more than one teardrop under an eye, and more than one of each. i doesn't matter which eye it is under.

A half-filled teardrop may also mean the death of a friend, vidicated by the wearer.