Calque of the Greek 'xylo-' (wood) + '-phone' (sound) — Chinese matches it almost morpheme-for-morpheme:
木 (wood) +
琴 (musical instrument with strings/keys). The
琴 character also names the guqin (
古琴) and shows up in
钢琴 (gāngqín, piano = 'steel-qin'),
提琴 (tíqín, violin family = 'lift-qin'), and
口琴 (kǒuqín, harmonica = 'mouth-qin') — a tidy little family.
