Poil
Commune
General view with the church Saint-Romain.
Location of Poil
Poil Show map of France Poil Show map of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
Coordinates: 46°52′04″N 4°04′28″E / 46.8678°N 4.0744°E / 46.8678; 4.0744
Country	France
Region	Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
Department	Nièvre
Arrondissement	Château-Chinon
Canton	Luzy
Intercommunality	Bazois Loire Morvan
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Christian Courault[1]
Area 1	27.02 km2 (10.43 sq mi)
Population  (2021)[2]	152
• Density	5.6/km2 (15/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	58211 /58170
Elevation	297–522 m (974–1,713 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Poil (French pronunciation: [pwal] ^ⓘ) is a commune in the Nièvre department in central France.^[3]

The name of the locality was first recorded as Picti in the 10th century, then Poiz in 1281, Poys in the 14th century, Poy in 1414, and finally Poil in 1592. This development reflects a regular change from the root Picti- to Poi(z)-, similar to other Celtic place names. The root "Pict-" probably relates to the Picts, a people from Scotland, possibly in theme with foreign Roman legions stationed there (compare e.g. Mortagne and Sermaise, from Mauretania and Sarmatia respectively). The final "-l" was added later, influenced by the common noun "poil", a homophone (common in French) with Pois.

The commune is part of the parc naturel régional du Morvan. The river Alène has its source in the south-western part of the commune.

On 1 January 2019, the estimated population was 147.

• Communes of the Nièvre department