In Genesis, the dove brought an olive leaf back to Noah’s Ark after the Flood waters receded.
Genesis 8:11 says the dove returned in the evening with a freshly plucked olive leaf. Noah understood this as evidence that the waters had diminished from the earth and that vegetation was again available. The event is one of the most recognizable details in the Ark narrative.
The passage does not describe the dove carrying a whole branch or a general green leaf. It specifically names an olive leaf, and many translations preserve that wording. The olive tree’s survival or renewed growth therefore becomes the sign that the landscape was beginning to recover.
In later art, literature, and political symbolism, a dove carrying an olive branch became associated with peace. That later symbol combines the biblical dove and olive imagery, although Genesis itself says “olive leaf,” not “olive branch.”