According to Genesis, what did Noah’s dove return with after the Flood?

According to Genesis, Noah’s dove returned with a freshly plucked olive leaf after the Flood.

Genesis 8:8–11 describes Noah sending the dove out repeatedly to learn whether the waters had receded. On its second successful return, the dove carried a freshly plucked olive leaf. Noah understood this as evidence that the waters had diminished from the earth and that vegetation was again accessible.

The olive leaf later became a widely recognized symbol of peace and hope, although Genesis presents it first as practical evidence in the Ark narrative. The passage does not say that the dove returned with a whole branch or that the leaf itself was a formal covenant sign. In Genesis, the covenant sign given afterward is the rainbow.