Molding is a decorative strip, usually made of wood, plaster, or plastic, used along walls, ceilings, doors, or floors to create a finished look. It can also refer to the process of shaping material in a mold.
From the verb “to mold,” meaning “to shape,” which comes from Old French “modler” and Latin “modulus,” “small measure or model.” The noun grew from the idea of a shaped or patterned piece.
That thin strip around a ceiling or floor is more than decoration—it hides gaps and rough edges, literally covering the imperfect join between surfaces. The same shaping idea appears in chocolate molds, pottery molds, and architectural molding.
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