Four leaves for four gifts
The leaves stand for faith, hope, love and luck.
Luck superstition
Four-leaf clover
Four-leaf clover: finding one brings luck; the leaves stand for faith, hope, love and luck. First recorded: 1620s in English sources. That makes it about 400 years old — the 35th oldest of the 45 superstitions we have dated.
- Earliest record
- 1620s in English sources
- Written down in
- 1884 Richard Folkard
Record: Richard Folkard, Plant Lore, Legends, and Lyrics (London: Sampson Low, 1884).
When it actually starts
How old is this one
First recorded
1620s in English sources
That makes it
about 400 years old
Rank by age
35th oldest of 45 dated here
Category
Luck
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.
34 of the dated superstitions here were written down earlier and 10 later.
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Primary source
As it was written down in 1884
“the four-leaved Clover is an emblem of the Cross, and all cruciform flowers are deemed of good omen, having been marked with the sign of the Cross.”
Richard Folkard, Plant Lore, Legends, and Lyrics (London: Sampson Low, 1884) — read the original text.
Folkard gives the Christian explanation of the clover’s luck: its four leaves make a cross.
The versions people follow
What exactly is believed
Seeing fairies
In Irish folklore holding a four-leaf clover lets you see fairies.
Saint Patrick
The three-leaf shamrock is linked with Saint Patrick; the fourth leaf is the extra luck.
Giving it away
A four-leaf clover given away doubles its luck.
Where it lives today
A four-leaf clover is a genuine rarity — commonly estimated at around one in several thousand clovers — and some farmers breed plants to produce them commercially.
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
Nearest in age
Four-leaf clover is the 35th oldest of the 45 dated superstitions here. Of those, 3 date from 1900 or later and 14 predate the common era.
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 →
Sources
Statements of fact on this page were checked against these sources in October 2026. How we choose and check sources: editorial policy.
Cite this page
AstroHot. “Four-leaf Clover Superstition: Origin and Meaning.” Accessed October 28, 2026. https://astrohot.com/superstitions/four-leaf-clover/
For Wikipedia
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