xylophone

American  

[zahy-luh-fohn] / ˈzaɪ ləˌfoʊn /

noun

• xylophones
  plural

1. a musical instrument consisting of a graduated series of wooden bars, usually sounded by striking with small wooden hammers.

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xylophone British  

/ ˈzaɪləˌfəʊn, ˌzaɪləˈfɒnɪk, zaɪˈlɒfənɪst /

noun

1. music a percussion instrument consisting of a set of wooden bars of graduated length. It is played with hard-headed hammers

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• xylophonist
  noun
• xylophonic
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• xylophones
  plural

Etymology

Origin of xylophone

First recorded in 1865–70; xylo- + -phone

Compare meaning

How does xylophone compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• vibraphone vs. xylophone
• glockenspiel vs. xylophone

Explanation

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

xylophone xylophones

At St. Anne School in Santa Monica, I watched Cummins harness the squirmy energy of second-graders wielding xylophone mallets.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 21, 2026

He holds small mallets in his “hands” to play a kind of xylophone called a marimba.

From NewsForKids.net ● Apr. 1, 2024

“Let’s work together to keep your account safe and protect you from fraud,” a recorded voice said, over a tinkly melody that sounded like a xylophone.

From New York Times ● Dec. 9, 2023

The article paints a scene of company employees striking a metal xylophone and applauding as they jubilantly gaslight their customers.

From Slate ● Jul. 31, 2023

Dakota was running back and forth along a line of stacked shields, banging his goblet on them like they were a xylophone.

From "The Son of Neptune" by Rick Riordan

I wish it sounded like tinkling bells and xylophones.

From Salon ● Jun. 8, 2026

These instruments tend to be bells, gongs, types of xylophones and other kinds of pitched percussion instruments.

From Science Daily ● Feb. 27, 2024

First, she went through the submissions to make sure they were playable by recorders and xylophones, which many schools use in elementary music classes.

From Washington Times ● Mar. 6, 2021

To some observers, the two businesses may seem to be anachronisms — one offering plastic yodeling pickles and xylophones, the other borscht and kielbasa — and out of step with the times.

From New York Times ● Dec. 11, 2020

Thus the instrumentarium was born—the complete set of which includes bass bars, bass, alto/tenor, and soprano metallophones, xylophones and alto and soprano glockenspiels.

From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin