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The term 'cornice' comes from Italian ''cornice'', meaning "ledge". In French: "''corniche''", and German:"''Gesims''"
'Cornice molding' is generally any horizontal decorative molding which crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.
The function of the projecting cornice is to throw rainwater free of the building's walls. In residential building practice, this function is handled by projecting gable ends, roof eaves and gutters. The complete elimination of the cornice has been important enough in modernist architecture, often simply for demands of style, that elaborate internal drainage systems are provided.

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Classical architecture

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Classical architecture

The cornice molding is the set of projecting moldings that crown an entablature along the top edge of a temple or building. The cornice lies above the frieze, which rests on the architrave, all supported by columns.
The sloping cornice, "raking cornice" or "rake board", is also carried across the top of the triangular pediment, at the gable end of a building. (), found on the front of such buildings as the Parthenon, the Acropolis or Schinkel's Schauspielhaus. The sloping cornice hangs over the end of the structure supporting the roof. In classical and neoclassical architecture, the sloping cornice uses the same molding profile as the cornice below.
Each of the classic orders has certain characteristic profiles to its cornice:

★ The cornice of the Doric order

★ The cornice of the Ionic order

★ The cornice of the Corinthian order

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