Clover

How to spell clover

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce clover

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does clover mean?

1. nounA small meadow plant with three rounded leaflets and dense pink, white, or red flower heads, often grown as fodder.

Clover in a sentence

• The cattle grazed contentedly in a field thick with clover.

• She knelt in the grass searching for a four-leaf clover for luck.

Where does clover come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Clover comes from the Old English word clafre (also spelled claefre), the native Anglo-Saxon name for the low, three-leaved meadow plant. It belongs to the Germanic family of languages, with close relatives such as the Dutch klaver and the German Klee, all pointing back to a shared ancient root for this familiar fodder plant. Some scholars have linked the word to an older notion of something sticky or clinging, perhaps from the gummy texture of certain clover heads, though that connection is not certain. The cheerful phrase 'in clover', meaning living in ease and plenty, dates from the way cattle thrive when turned out into a rich clover field. The spelling has settled comfortably around the long 'o' sound, so the main thing to remember is the single 'l' and the plain '-er' ending, with no fancy foreign letters to trip over.

How the word is built

• clover (from Old English clafre: the plant); a single unanalysable root, no productive prefix or suffix