à poil
\a pwal\
The verdict
“à poil” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Sans vêtements ; nu.
Corpus desk
Index FR-a-poil · à poil · French
à poil · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "À" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | à poil |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | \a pwal\ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « à poil » en français
Rare enough to double-check
à poil is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed \a pwal\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.
à poil doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable French rules. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is à poil, spelled À- -P-O-I-L.
Definition
- 1Sans vêtements ; nu.
- 2Sans selle, à cru.
- 3Sans rien ; démuni.
- 4Doté de poil.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how à poil appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Alexine alla lui ouvrir à poil ; le cocher en eut un éblouissement et, comme elle se sauvait dans la chambre à coucher, il courut derrière, l’empoigna et lui mit en levrette un vit de taille respectable.
— Dis-donc, toi, le Général Cornichon, si on vous foutait tous les deux à poil, qui que c’est qui saurait lequel que c’est le troufion ? Tu n’as tout d’même pas des feuilles de chêne sur ton c… — (Edgar Frank, La Brocante Sentimentale, Nouvelles Editions Latines, 1950, page 183)
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.