Meaning
A chicken or hen — the everyday yard bird kept for eggs and pot. Jamaican proverb is thick with fowl: the yard fowl that isn't hard to catch, the good fowl that says it's going to market but never arrives, the hen that scratches for its chicks. A 'yard fowl' running loose is ordinary; used of a person, 'yard fowl' turns political and dismissive.
Examples
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Di fowl dem a scratch up di yaad.
The chickens are scratching up the yard.
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Wi have fresh fowl egg dis mawnin.
We have fresh hen eggs this morning.
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Good fowl seh him a go a market, but him neva reach.
The good fowl says he's going to market but never gets there.
A proverb on big talk and no delivery.
Origin
From English 'fowl'. See [[yard-fowl]], [[peel-neck-fowl]].
How it’s used
A chicken/hen; heavy in proverb. 'Yard fowl' of a person is a political insult.