In Genesis, what did Noah’s dove return carrying?

In Genesis, Noah’s dove returned carrying a freshly plucked olive leaf. Genesis 8:11 says the dove came back to Noah in the evening with the leaf, showing that the floodwaters had receded enough for vegetation to reappear above the water.

The dove had first been released and returned without finding a place to rest. After Noah waited seven days, he sent it out again. Its return with the olive leaf gave Noah a concrete sign that the earth was becoming habitable.

The passage identifies an olive leaf, not a branch from an unspecified tree. In later art and popular language, the detail is often represented as a small olive branch held in the dove’s beak. That broader symbol preserves the central idea while slightly expanding the biblical wording.

The image of the dove and olive leaf became associated with peace, hope, and the end of conflict. Its original context in Genesis is the discovery that the Flood is receding.