shamrock

[sham-rok]

noun

1. any of several trifoliate plants, as the wood sorrel, Oxalis acetosella, or a small, pink-flowered clover, Trifolium repens minus, but especially Trifolium procumbens, a small, yellow-flowered clover: the national emblem of Ireland.

shamrock

/ ˈʃæmˌrɒk /

noun

1. a plant having leaves divided into three leaflets, variously identified as the wood sorrel, red clover, white clover, and black medick: the national emblem of Ireland

Word History and Origins

Origin of shamrock¹

1565–75; < Irish seamróg, equivalent to seamair clover + -óg diminutive suffix

Word History and Origins

Origin of shamrock¹

C16: from Irish Gaelic seamrōg, diminutive of seamar clover

Example Sentences

“My first tattoo,” she wrote, “might just be a huge shamrock in the middle of my forehead.”

From Los Angeles Times

"It's impossible not to like Justin Rose. It's the English Rose against the Irish shamrock," said one golfer, as everyone chatted nervously before the play-off.

From BBC

Catherine, dressed in a bottle-green and percher hat, presented the traditional sprigs of shamrock to officers, guardsmen and mascot Seamus, the Irish wolfhound, at the regiment's annual parade at Wellington Barracks.

From BBC

But such information would only have puzzled Trump and complicated the shamrock bonhomie, and Vance — a Roman Catholic convert, after all — beamed in silence from the sofa.

From Salon

On Wednesday, the taoiseach presented Trump with a bowl of shamrocks in the White House.

From BBC