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The Learning Kingdom's Cool Word of the Day for March 29, 1999
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xylophone [n. ZY-luh-fone]
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A xylophone is a musical percussion instrument. It's a set of tuned
blocks, usually arranged in two rows like the keys of a piano
keyboard, that emit musical notes when struck by small mallets. The
blocks are sized so that their notes form a chromatic musical scale.
Although not all modern xylophone keys are made of wood, the original
ones were. Xylo- is from the Greek xulon (wood) and -phone is from
Greek phone (voice, sound). The first use of the word is from the
1860s, when the instrument was invented.
More "wood" words:
xylography [zy-LOH-gru-fee]: the arts of wood engraving and woodblock
printing
xylem [ZY-lum]: water-conducting woody plant tissue
xylophagus [zy-LOH-fuh-gus]: feeding on wood
xyloid [ZY-loid]: of or similar to wood
xylotomy [zy-LOH-tuh-mee]: preparation of wood sections for microscope
study
More about the xylophone and its relatives, the marimba and
vibraphone:
http://members.home.net/datimp/kybd.html
A robot that plays a xylophone:
http://www.wellesley.edu/Physics/Rberg/xylo.html
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