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xylophone

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The definition of a xylophone is a percussion instrument played by striking wooden bars of graduated lengths.

(noun)

An example of a xylophone is a popular instrument which young children play.

See xylophone in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun

a musical percussion instrument consisting of a series of wooden bars graduated in length so as to sound the notes of the scale when struck with mallets

Origin: xylo- + -phone

Related Forms:

xylophonist noun

See xylophone in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun

A percussion instrument consisting of a mounted row of wooden bars graduated in length to sound a chromatic scale, played with two small mallets.

Related Forms:

xyˈlo·phonˌist noun

Word History: Alphabet books for children frequently feature the word xylophone because it is one of the few words beginning with x that a child (or most adults, for that matter) would know. The majority of English words beginning with x, including many obscure scientific terms, are of Greek origin, the x, pronounced (z), representing the Greek letter xi. In the case of xylophone, xylo- is a form meaning “wood,” derived from Greek xulon, “wood,” and -phone represents Greek phōnē, “voice, sound,” the same element found in words such as telephone, microphone, and megaphone. Our famous x word is first recorded in the April 7, 1866, edition of the Athenaeum: “A prodigy … who does wonderful things with little drumsticks on a machine of wooden keys, called the ‘xylophone.’”

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