Xylophone
The xylophone in five languages — xylophone, xilofono, Xylophon, xylophone
Related
Five languages
| Language | Name |
|---|---|
| Chinese | 木琴 |
| English | xylophone |
| Italian | xilofono |
| German | Xylophon |
| French | xylophone |
The xylophone has a row of hard-wood bars, usually with metal resonator tubes below, struck with mallets. English xylophone comes from Greek xylon (wood) and phōnē (sound); Italian xilofono, German Xylophon and French xylophone transcribe the same root — the name itself says "wood sound".
Watch out: xylophone and marimba are often treated as one instrument; the marimba has wider, lower, softer bars, the xylophone shorter and brighter ones (a common usage). Chinese 木琴 can also loosely mean any bar-struck instrument, so professional writing distinguishes them.
Read deeper → Xylophone
Sources
- 各语种乐器名与 xylophone 的词源，参 The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "Xylophone"；译名依通行音乐术语词典；本文为原创表述
Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.