While there are many symbols that represent St. Patrick’s Day, none are as iconic as the shamrock. Keep reading to learn about the St. Patrick’s Day shamrock meaning.
Images of St. Patrick’s Day frequently depict four leaf clovers, due to the belief that four leaf clovers are a lucky plant. However, shamrocks only have three leaves, not four.
In addition to being a symbol of the St. Patrick’s Day holiday (along with the color green, parades, leprechauns, corned beef and cabbage, the harp, and green beer) shamrocks are also a symbol of Ireland.
Ireland is divided into two countries (Northern Ireland which is country in the United Kingdom, and the Republic of Ireland which is a country in Europe), and the shamrock is the national plant of both.
Keep reading to learn about the St. Patrick’s Day shamrock, and to get a free shamrock coloring page.
Shamrock vs 4 leaf clover
The debate of 4 leaf clover vs shamrock can be confusing, but it doesn’t need to be.
Both shamrocks and four leaf clovers are a member of the clover family, which is part of the Trifolium genus. This genus houses roughly 300 species of clover.
The Latin root of Trifolium describes the typical appearance of this plant. In Latin, tres means three, and folium means leaf.
While clovers can grow more than three leaves, to be considered a shamrock, a plant must have only three leaves. Four leaf clovers are considered lucky because the more leaves a clover has, the rarer it is.
The world record for most leaves on a clover belongs to Shigeo Obara of Japan, who found a clover with an impressive 56 leaves on a single stem. While it’s no shamrock, that sure would be one lucky clover!
Some of the links below are affiliate links. I earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you if you purchase through an affiliate link.
St. Patrick’s Day shamrock meaning
In addition to their visual differences, the shamrock meaning is also different than the four leaf clover meaning. The St. Patrick’s Day shamrock meaning is linked directly to the patron saint of Ireland, Saint Patrick.
In the fifth century, Saint Patrick came to Ireland as a Christian missionary to evangelize the Irish. In his teachings, he used the shamrock as a visual aid to teach about religion.
Saint Patrick said that the three leaves of shamrocks represented the holy trinity in Christianity: the father, the son and holy sprit.
The shamrock isn’t the only holiday symbol that represents the holy trinity. During Easter, several Easter breads from around the world have three strand braided dough that also represents the holy trinity. The three holes in pretzels also represent the holy trinity.
In Pagan Ireland, Celtic people believed in and worshipped many triple deities (gods or goddesses that appeared in three forms). The number three held special meaning to them, and was an effective way for Saint Patrick to teach Christianity.
For other holiday plants with special meaning, make sure to check out our posts on Easter plants (the dogwood tree and Easter lilies), and Christmas plants (poinsettias, mistletoe, and other festive greenery).
Irish Shamrock meaning
In addition to being a symbol of St. Patrick’s Day, the meaning of shamrocks has significance in Ireland all year round.
Etymologically, the word shamrock comes from the Irish word seamróg, meaning “young clover”. It is a combination of two Irish words: seamair (clover) and óg (young).
The shamrock meaning also came to represent Irish Nationalism during the Irish Rebellion of 1798.
Irish Nationalists believed that Ireland should be its own sovereign entity. They opposed to British rule and British suppression of the Irish culture and language.
The supporters of Irish Nationalism wore shamrocks and green ribbons to display their loyalty to Ireland, and Irish pride.
Shamrock facts
Add to your knowledge of the shamrock meaning by checking out these facts about shamrocks below. Some may surprise you!
- While clovers can have any number of leaves, shamrocks only have three leaves.
- Shamrocks are a symbol of St. Patrick’s Day.
- St. Patrick used the shamrock as a teaching tool for Christianity, saying that each leaf represent a part of the holy trinity (the father, the son and the holy spirit).
- The three leaves on the shamrocks also represent faith, hope and love. On four leaf clovers, the fourth leaf represents good luck.
- Irish Nationalists pinned shamrocks on their lapels to show Irish loyalty and pride.
- Both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland have the shamrock as their national plant.
- The oxalis plant is commonly called a “false shamrock” because even though it isn’t a clover, the appearance of the plant resembles a shamrock.
If you want to celebrate the St. Patrick’s Day shamrock meaning, you can get a free high resolution shamrock coloring page here, or you can print the shamrock coloring sheet from the project card at the bottom of this page.
Share this post about the St. Patrick’s Day shamrock meaning with your friends on twitter:
If you enjoyed learning these facts about shamrocks don’t forget to share them with your friends. Here’s a tweet to get you started:
Celebrate St. Patrick's Day by learning about the shamrock meaning and getting fun facts about shamrocks. ☘️🌈 #ShamrockMeaning #StPatricksDayShamrock Share on XPin this post on the St. Patrick’s Day shamrock for later
Would you like a reminder of this post explaining the St. Patrick’s Day shamrock meaning? Just pin this image to one of your St. Patrick’s Day boards on Pinterest so that you can easily find it later.
Celebrate St. Patrick's Day with a free shamrock coloring page. Just grab your colored pencils, crayons or markers and get started! The sky is the limit for creativity on this shamrock coloring sheet. It's a fun Saint Patrick's Day activity the whole family can enjoy! Using this print function on this card will print a shamrock coloring sheet that fills about 3/4 of an 8.5 x 11 inch sheet of paper. To fill the entire page, choose "fit to page" on your printer if you have this setting, or use the link in the post above and print using the browser print feature. As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.St. Patrick's Day Shamrock Coloring Page
Materials
Tools
Instructions
Notes
Recommended Products
About the author
Since graduating from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Jess has been living and working in Los Angeles, CA. She is a freelance writer, specializing in content related to fashion, food and drink and film industry topics. Find out more about Jess here.
FACT CHECK: Our editorial staff aims to be accurate and fair in all posts. If you see something that doesn’t appear correct, please click here to contact us. Always the Holidays reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate.