Maga
Also spelled: mawga, magga, meagre
Meaning
Thin, skinny, or scrawny; lacking flesh or, by extension, lacking substance. Applied to people, animals, or even things like a poor harvest. Unlike neutral English 'thin', it usually implies being unhealthily or unattractively lean.
Examples
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“Di dog dem maga, dem nuh get no food.”
The dogs are skinny, they haven't been fed.
'Dem' pluralises 'dog'; no copula before 'maga.'
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“Yuh get maga since mi last si yuh!”
You've gotten thin since I last saw you!
Often said with concern about someone's health.
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“A maga crop wi reap dis year.”
It's a poor, meagre crop we reaped this year.
Extended sense meaning scanty or lacking.
Origin
From English 'meagre', reshaped by Jamaican phonology into 'maga'.
How it's used
Everyday descriptive word, generally not an insult unless used to mock, as in 'maga dawg' for a wretchedly thin dog or, figuratively, a downtrodden person. The proverb 'Maga cow a bull mumma' (a scrawny cow is still a bull's mother) warns against judging by appearance.