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 a black armband originally made of this, worn as a sign of mourning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

As ever, Zendaya stole the show with a floor-length Tamara Ralph champagne silk crepe gown with spider webby straps, matching the white carpet in Leicester Square.

From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026

They’re kind of a cross between a crepe and a pancake, and they are indescribable.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 4, 2024

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

From Salon ● Mar. 16, 2024

Floor-sweeping chiffon and crepe gowns had a timeless feel, without a nod to seasonal trends.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 24, 2024

Again Ishmael stood beside his father while Hatsue, on board her float, passed by waving to everybody majestically with her crepe paper scepter in hand.

From "Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel" by David Guterson

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

You can make a savory crêpe with egg, cheese and asparagus and you can also make oven-baked buckwheat chips.

From Salon ● May 22, 2024

Also in Bellevue Square, the New York-based Lady M cake boutique has brought its signature mille crêpe cakes to a showy, bright white space.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 21, 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

Harry stopped beside a dark crêpe myrtle bush.

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

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

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 11, 2026

A hard cheese for grating — a little bit can go a long way, Buckwheat, whether flour for aperitif snacks, sprinkles of it simply toasted, mountain-style pasta or savory brunch crêpes.

From Salon ● May 22, 2024

You can get its signature pho here as well, though the bistro focuses on contemporary Southern Vietnamese cuisine, including grilled duck breast over fried garlic noodles and banh xeo pork-and-shrimp crêpes shaped like street tacos.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 25, 2023

Unlike wheat-and-egg-based crêpes or buckwheat galettes, which hail from northwestern Brittany, socca begins with a base of chickpea flour, water, and olive oil.

From Salon ● Oct. 1, 2022

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

For this purpose the weighed sample is cut thin or creped thin, and exhaustively extracted with acetone to remove any “free” sulphur—that is, sulphur not in combination with the rubber.

From The Preparation of Plantation Rubber by Sidney Morgan

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

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

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

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

Related Words

• cake
• waffle