A Singapore chef has tattooed the Chinese character for "dead" on his forehead after his wife and daughter left him.

The 34-year-old man also has 10 other death-related Chinese characters on his body. Among them "funeral", "arrest", "spirit", "afterworld", "grave", "end", "pray", "hall" and "command".

Singapore's Lianhe Zaobao reported that a 58-year-old stall assistant had sought help from the media over her son's unusual behaviour over the past three months.

She said her son had inflicted harm on himself by tattooing the Chinese characters on his head, neck and arms.

She said the son had first tattooed two words on his neck - "funeral" and "arrest" - on August 8, then another two the next months and seven others on Oct 31.

Photo: The Daily Chilli

"I asked him why he did that to himself and he said there was nothing wrong," said the woman.

She, however, believed that the son's strange behaviour was related to his wife and daughter.

She claimed that her former daughter-in-law had left her son a month after giving birth to a baby girl.

"She moved back to her parents' home and demanded to divorce my son.

"Until now, we still do not understand why. My son had gone to see her but she called the police to chase him away," alleged the woman.

She said she had asked her son to remove the tattoos but he refused.

Psychiatrist Dr Ang Yong Guan said the chef had subconsciously wished to die.

He said the man could be suffering from depression.

He said the tattoos were a form of protest and the words the man had chosen reflected his subconscious mind.

He urged the man to see a doctor before his condition worsened.

-The Daily Chilli