The story
From pea (“peacock”) + fowl. Compare Icelandic páfugl (“peafowl”), Swedish påfågel (“peafowl”), Danish påfugl (“peafowl”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
peafowl
Today it means: A bird of the genus Pavo or Afropavo, notable for the extravagant tails of the males; a peacock (unspecified sex). Full definition →