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clover

UK/ˈkləʊ.və(ɹ)/US/ˈkloʊ.vɚ/
nounB1+Common in everyday speech and writing · #7,306 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: clovers

Clover is a low meadow plant with three round leaflets. A field of clover, clover honey, a four-leaf clover.

It feeds nitrogen into the soil through bacteria in its roots, which is why it was the making of crop rotation and why lawn purists who kill it are working against themselves. A four-leaf one is a rare mutation. In clover means comfortably off.

Amédée Masclef · Public domain

Definitions of clover

  1. 1nouncloverA low meadow plant with three round leaflets.B1+

    “The cows were grazing on a field of sweet white clover.”

clover is a plant.

Where it comes from

Old English claefre names the plant, from a Germanic root. The German Klee is the same word.

  1. Proto-West Germanic

    *klaibrā

  2. Old English

    clāfre

  3. Middle English

    clovere

  4. English, today

    clover

From Middle English clovere, claver, from Old English clāfre, earlier clǣfre, from Proto-West Germanic klaibrā. Cognate with stq Kleeuwer, Low German Klaver, Klever, Dutch klaver, all “clover”. More distantly also related with German Klee.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Trees & Flowers

Practise this word

clover in the wild

  • Related genera with similar common names include Melilotus (sweet clover) and Medicago (burclover).

    Clover

  • A shamrock is a type of clover, used as a symbol of Ireland.

    Shamrock

  • The species is native to Eurasia and is one of the most widely cultivated types of clover.

    Trifolium repens

  • According to tradition, such clovers bring good luck, a belief that dates back to at least the 17th century.

    Four-leaf clover

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.