modillion means A decoratively carved supporting block atop a column, often underneath a cornice, and usually smaller and more ornamental in function than a corbel. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
Why this word is great
MODILLION — [Noun] A decoratively carved supporting block or bracket set in a series under the corona of a cornice in classical architecture. From Italian modiglione, from Vulgar Latin *mutiliōnem, a variant of *mūtuliōnem, from Latin mūtulus ("projecting block or bracket"). Unlike a "corbel"—a structural, weight-bearing shoulder of masonry—or a "mutule"—the Doric order's plain, guttae-studded slab—the modillion is an act of ornate persuasion, the crowning rhetoric of the Ionic and Corinthian regimes. It is the scrolled fiction of support, the shadow-casting curl of stone, and the frozen acanthus leaf in a repetitive, elevated frieze—a silent testament that what holds up the roof is necessity, but what holds up the heavens is art.
noun
- A decoratively carved supporting block atop a column, often underneath a cornice, and usually smaller and more ornamental in function than a corbel.“It is a large square structure, two and a half stories in height, with a hipped roof rising above a handsome cornice with prominent modillions and surmounted by a balustraded belvedere.”