Four-leaf clover: Origin, Meaning and When It Actually Started

Q: How old is this superstition?

First recorded: 1620s in English sources. Rarity is the entire basis, and here the rarity is real and measurable — roughly one clover in five thousand has four leaves, caused by a recessive genetic trait and environmental stress.

When it actually starts

How old is this one

First recorded 1620s in English sources

That makes it about 406 years old

Rank by age 24 oldest of 40 dated here

Category Luck

Searched 520 a month

Rarity is the entire basis, and here the rarity is real and measurable — roughly one clover in five thousand has four leaves, caused by a recessive genetic trait and environmental stress.

What people say

Finding one brings luck; the leaves stand for faith, hope, love and luck.

What is going on

The odds are genuinely about 1 in 5 000, so finding one is unusual — but people who find one often find several, because the trait clusters in patches sharing a root system.

Where it applies. Irish and British in origin, now global.

Other luck superstitions

Money superstitions 670/mo Gambling superstitions 70/mo Finding a penny 70/mo

Recorded around the same time

Four-leaf clover is the 24th oldest of the 40 dated superstitions here. Of those, 6 are younger than a century and 5 predate the common era.

Horseshoe over the door 1600 Cricket superstitions 1600 Spider superstitions 1700 Crows as omens 1780

First-recorded dates are the earliest documented appearance in written sources, not the earliest possible origin — an unrecorded practice can be older. How the dating works and where it is uncertain →