The French term "crêpe" derives from crispa, the feminine version of the Latin word crispus, which means "curled, wrinkled, having curly hair.

[6] On that day in 472, Pope Gelasius I offered crepes as sacramental bread to French pilgrims that were visiting Rome for the Chandeleur.

Eating and sharing crêpes with others on Candlemas is another tradition based on popes giving food to the poor every year on February 2.

Common fillings include hazelnut cocoa spread, preserves, sugar (granulated or powdered), maple syrup, golden syrup, lemon juice, whipped cream, fruit spreads, custard, and sliced soft fruits or confiture.

[11] Batter made from buckwheat flour is gluten-free, which makes it possible for people who have a wheat allergy or gluten intolerance to eat this type of crêpe.

[12] Common savory fillings for crêpes are cheese, ham, and eggs, ratatouille, mushrooms, artichoke (in certain regions), and various meat products.

Batters can also consist of other ingredients such as butter, milk, water, eggs, flour, salt, and sugar.

An Indian variety of the crêpe uses a multi-grain flour called "bhajanee," eggs, curd, and an assortment of spices as its ingredients.

[15] This French pâtisserie,[16][17] was popularized by Emy Wada, a pâtissière who studied in France[18] and operated Paper Moon Cake Boutiques in Japan, in the 1980s.

The rest of the wet ingredients are then added to thin the batter to a loose enough consistency to spread easily.

In areas of central Europe, formerly belonging to the Austro-Hungarian empire, there is a thin pancake comparable to a crêpe that in Austro-Bavarian is called Palatschinken; in Hungarian: palacsinta; and in Bosnian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Czech, Croatian, Serbian and Slovene: palačinka; in Slovak: palacinka.

In the Balkan countries, palačinka or pallaçinka may be eaten with fruit jam, quark cheese, sugar, honey, or the hazelnut-chocolate cream Nutella, while there is also a breaded variant which is mostly filled with meat.

The Oxford English Dictionary derives the German and Slavic words from the Hungarians palacsinta, which it derives from the Romanian plăcintă, which comes in turn from classical Latin placenta ("small flat cake"), even though the Romanian plăcintă is more similar to a pie, and the crêpes are called clătită.

Blini are served with butter and topped with caviar, cheese, meat, potatoes, mushrooms, honey, berry jam, or often a dollop of sour cream.

[25] Crêpes have also long been popular in Japan and Malaysia, with sweet and savory varieties being sold at many small stands, usually called crêperies.

In Southern India, a similar dish made of fermented rice batter is called a dosa, which often has savory fillings.

In Western India, a dish made of gram flour is called "Pudlaa" or "Poodla," with the batter consisting of vegetables and spices.

In the Philippines, a native crêpe recipe is the daral which is made from ground glutinous rice and coconut milk batter (galapong).

It consists of wheat and grain-based crepe, an egg, deep-fried crackers (known as Bao Cui/薄脆 in Chinese), 2–3 savory/spicy sauces, and chopped scallions & coriander.