xylophone

/ˌzaɪləˈfoʊn/

/ˈzaɪləfəʊn/

Other forms: xylophones

A xylophone is a long musical instrument with wooden bars that is played by hitting it with small, hammer-like mallets. The xylophone produces bright, sharp tones when stuck with these hard-headed mallets.

The xylo- part of this word comes from the Greek for wood — xylon — and clues us in to what gives this instrument its unique sound: the graduated bars representing tones of the scale. A related word in English is xylem, the tissue that forms the woody part of plants. The phone part means "a sound" in Greek. If your instrument has metal bars instead of wooden ones, it is more likely to be a glockenspiel, not a xylophone.

Definitions of xylophone

1. noun

   a bright-toned wooden bar instrument played with hard-headed mallets