four-leaf clover
6
3.0
- noun
- /fɔr-lif ˈkloʊvər/
:
trébol de cuatro hojas
- One could spend an entire evening trying to find a four-leaf clover with friends without success.
- find a four-leaf clover
- look for four-leaf clovers
- four-leaf clover, my lucky
Examples
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Finding a four-leaf clover is a special experience that many people treasure for its symbolism of good luck.
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We're never gonna find a four-leaf clover in here.
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I thought I saw a four-leaf clover around here somewhere.
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I have my four-leaf clover, too.
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Now we need a four-leaf clover.
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It does look like a four-leaf clover.
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I've found my four-leaf clover.
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There's gotta be a four-leaf clover in the patch up there.
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A four-leaf clover, freshly plucked from the clover patch beside the well.
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Some believe that carrying a four-leaf clover can bring you good fortune in life.
How Many Leaves
6
3.0
38
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
four-leaf + clover
The noun is transparently built from the constituents: 'four-leaf' (four + leaf) modifies 'clover' to denote a clover plant with four leaflets, so the core referent is directly derivable from the parts; the cultural note that it is considered lucky is additional background but does not affect compositionality. This numeral+modifier+noun pattern is cross-linguistically common (e.g. Spanish 'trébol de cuatro hojas'), so a B1 learner who knows the words can infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Four-leaf clover comes from a simple picture: most clovers have three small leaves, but one with four is rare and easy to spot. People treated finding one as a sign of 'good luck', so that's why the four-leaf clover means 'good luck' today.