À poil

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Familiar French Expression

Meaning	stark naked, in the buff
Literally	in hair
Register	familiar
Pronunciation		[ah pwal]
IPA		[a pwal]

Usage notes: Un poil is a hair, especially one on the body rather than the head. So the familiar French expression à poil means "naked": the person is wearing nothing but their own body hair.

Par exemple…

Il était là, à poil.		There he was, stark naked.
À poil !		Take ’em off! Strip!

Synonyms

dans le plus simple appareil		in one’s birthday suit
déshabillé		undressed
en costume d’Adam/d’Ève (old-fashioned)		in one’s birthday suit
en tenue d’Adam/d’Ève		in one’s birthday suit
nu		naked, nude

Expressions with à poil

être à poil		to be stark naked
la baignade à poil		skinny-dipping
se baigner à poil		to skinny-dip
se mettre à poil		to strip down to one’s birthday suit

 Poil also refers to animal hair.

• à poil blanc – white-haired
• à poil ras – short-haired
• un bichon à poil frisé – bichon frise
• un bonnet à poils – bearskin cap
• gibier à poil – game animals
• un terrier à poils durs – wire-haired terrier

 Similar but unrelated expression: Au poil ! – Great! Perfect!

• arriver au poil – to arrive in the nick of time, at just the right time
• Ça me va au poil – That’s fine by me

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