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• crepe
  crepe

  noun

  a lightweight fabric of silk, cotton, or other fiber, with a finely crinkled or ridged surface.
• crêpe
  crêpe

  noun

  crepe.

crepe

¹ American  

[kreyp] / kreɪp /

Or crape

noun

1. a lightweight fabric of silk, cotton, or other fiber, with a finely crinkled or ridged surface.

2. a usually black band or piece of this material, worn as a token of mourning.

3. a thin, light, delicate pancake.

4. crepe paper.

5. crepe rubber.

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verb (used with object)

creped, creping

1. to cover, clothe, or drape with crepe.

crêpe ² American  

[kreyp, krep, krep] / kreɪp, krɛp, krɛp /

noun

• crêpes
  plural

1. crepe.

2. crepe.

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crepe British  

/ kreɪp /

noun

1. 1. a light cotton, silk, or other fabric with a fine ridged or crinkled surface

   2. ( as modifier )

      a crepe dress

2. a black armband originally made of this, worn as a sign of mourning

3. a very thin pancake, often rolled or folded around a filling

4. short for crepe paper crepe rubber

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verb

1. (tr) to cover or drape with crepe

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• crêpes
  plural

Etymology

Origin of crepe¹

1790–1800; < French < Latin crispus curled, wrinkled

Origin of crêpe²

From French; see origin at crepe

Explanation

A crepe is a thin, French type of pancake. It's also a word for a type of thin, crinkly paper. Don't confuse your crepes and start chewing on paper. Both types of crepes are thin, though there's only one kind you'd want to eat. The inedible crepe is paper that's very thin and crinkly. Crepe paper is usually colored and is often used in decorations. The other type of crepe is a thin pancake that is filled with many types of food, including meat and fruit. Crepes are even thinner than Swedish pancakes, and they're either sweet or savory. This word shares a linguistic ancestor with English's crisp.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

crepe crêpe crêpes creped creping

But in New York I did remodeling, so I’d do things like turn a crepe shop into a hair salon.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2025

Boxty may even be grilled thin enough to stand in as a potato crepe wrapped around various fillings.

From Salon ● Mar. 16, 2024

The pink crepe blouse has a ruff-like collar and loose pleats to the front and was captured on film by royal photographer Lord Snowdon.

From BBC ● Dec. 18, 2023

The sauce opens the richness of a pho broth or adds a blast of heat to a banh xeo, a Vietnamese crepe.

From New York Times ● Jul. 13, 2023

Her first resort was a black crepe de chine dress which, according to the dressing table mirror, bestowed by means of clever cutting a certain severity of form.

From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan

Here, she shares her minimalist approach to restocking a kitchen from scratch, a smart pantry organization solution—and the crêpe recipe that rescued her from a cooking rut.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 11, 2026

The elegant, layered crêpe cakes are available whole or by the slice.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 21, 2023

Be sure to stop at the crêpe station for fresh crêpe, fresh-cut fruit and house-whipped cream.

From Salon ● Jan. 8, 2023

The restaurant will also offer a daily prix fixe menu that includes a choice of soup or a salad, one savory galette, one dessert crêpe, and a glass of hard cider, soda or juice.

From Fox News ● Aug. 26, 2021

He even rearranged the shelves of the kitchen downstairs and removed the gaily colored crêpe streamers from the electric fans.

From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers

Hot and dry noodles with seafood, Beijing crêpes filled with satay beef, Sichuan pancakes stuffed with char siu pork.

From Salon ● Aug. 9, 2026

Through playing around I landed on my recipe for scrunched mochi crêpes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 11, 2026

Check out his crêpes and pressed sandwiches at LouLou Market and Bar located at Concourse B within Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 8, 2022

And indeed, it's a cherished staple around the world, from French crêpes to Russian blini to Japanese soba.

From Salon ● Apr. 17, 2021

We’d buy crêpes au fromage from stands on the street and walk along the banks of the Seine.

From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama

The skin that covers them is creped and saggy.

From The Guardian ● Nov. 14, 2015

They creped their campus statue of Thomas Jefferson and inscribed it: "To the Memory of Jeffersonian Democracy and Religious Freedom in Virginia Died November 6, 1928."

From Time Magazine Archive

If the slab rubber be creped and air-dried on the spot, the product is of satisfactory appearance, except that it is of low colour and may be streaked.

From The Preparation of Plantation Rubber by Sidney Morgan

I had a cousin who was an actor and I saw him put on a beautiful beard with spirit-gum and creped hair once.

From Miss Pat at School by Pemberton Ginther

His hair in front was well loaded with pomatum, frizzled or creped, and powdered; the ear locks had undergone the same process.

From Customs and Fashions in Old New England by Alice Morse Earle

Example of this haue you in Terrence of the boasting souldiar, & creping smel feast.

From A Treatise of Schemes and Tropes by Herbert William Hildebrandt

Thus, although the putrefaction bases are very easily soluble in water and acetone, they cannot be removed by washing on the creping rollers, or by acetone extraction.

From The Preparation of Plantation Rubber by Sidney Morgan

Related Words

• cake
• waffle