somersault

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UK/ˈsʌməˌsɒlt/UK/ˈsʌməˌsɔːlt/Northern England/ˈsʊməˌsɒlt/US/ˈsʌmɚˌsɔlt/

noun

Starting on one's feet, an instance of rotating one's body 360 degrees while airborne or on the ground, with one's feet passing over one's head.

“Near-synonym: backflip”

Similar
saltosummybackflipsomersetsummersaultsummersetsomersaultingflip
OriginFrench sombresault ← Old Occitan sobresalt ← Latin suprā →
UncommonScrabble 12
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Meanings

nounsomersault (plural somersaults)

plural somersaults · alternative archaic somerset · alternative archaic summersault

  1. Starting on one's feet, an instance of rotating one's body 360 degrees while airborne or on the ground, with one's feet passing over one's head.

    Near-synonym: backflip

    Synonyms: salto, summy, backflip

verbsomersault (third-person singular simple present somersaults, present participle somersaulting, simple past and past participle somersaulted)

present singular third person somersaults · participle present somersaulting · participle past somersaulted · past somersaulted · alternative archaic somerset · alternative archaic summersault

  1. To perform a somersault.

    Near-synonym: backflip

    2 more examples

    The performer somersaulted all the way across the stage.

    He half-carries, half-drags it back to the stern, making sure the heat exchanger stays in the water, and somersaults it into the zodiac.

    1992, Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash, page 361

    Synonyms: backflip

Synonyms & antonyms

nounStarting on one's feet, an instance of rotating one's body 360 degrees while airborne or on the ground, with one's feet passing over one's head.

Similar
saltosummybackflip

verbTo perform a somersault.

Similar
backflip

More synonyms by meaning

nounan acrobatic feat in which the feet roll over the head (either forward or backward) and return

Similar
somersetsummersaultsummersetsomersaultingflip
Broader
tumble
Also see
fliproly-polysomersaultingsomersettumbleset

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Latinsuprā“over”
  2. Old Occitansobresalt
  3. Frenchsombresault
  4. Englishsomersault

From French sombresault (now obsolete, compare French sursaut, soubresaut), from Old Occitan sobresalt, from sobre- (“over, above”) + salt (“jump”), from Latin suprā (“over”) + saltus (“jump”). Doublet of soubresaut. Cognate with Spanish sobresaltar (“to spook, startle”) and Portuguese sobressaltar (“to spook, scare, jump over”).

More words from French, Old Occitan, Latin

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian салто, правя салто
  • салто (salto)the act of going head over heels
  • правя салто (pravja salto)to perform somersault
Catalan tombarella
  • tombarellathe act of going head over heels
Chinese Cantonese 打關斗 /打关斗, 打清秋
  • 打關斗 /打关斗 (daa² gwaan¹ dau²)to perform somersault
  • 打清秋to perform somersault
  • 倒轉來 /倒转来to perform somersault
  • 打間斗 /打间斗to perform somersault
  • 翻跟斗 (faan¹ gan¹ dau²)to perform somersault
Chinese Mandarin 筋斗, 跟頭 /跟头
  • 筋斗 (jīndǒu)the act of going head over heels
  • 跟頭 /跟头 (gēntou)the act of going head over heels
  • 翻筋斗 (fān jīndǒu)to perform somersault
  • 翻跟頭 /翻跟头 (fān gēntou)to perform somersault
  • 翻跟頭兒 /翻跟头儿to perform somersault
  • 吃跟頭兒 /吃跟头儿to perform somersault
  • 栽跟頭 /栽跟头to perform somersault
  • 踏跟頭 /踏跟头to perform somersault
  • 扯倒提to perform somersault
Czech salto, kotrmelec
  • saltothe act of going head over heels
  • kotrmelecthe act of going head over heels
  • dělat kotrmelecto perform somersault
  • udělat kotrmelecto perform somersault
  • dělat saltoto perform somersault
  • udělat saltoto perform somersault
Danish saltomortale
  • saltomortalethe act of going head over heels
Dutch salto
  • saltothe act of going head over heels
Estonian kukerpall, salto
  • kukerpallthe act of going head over heels
  • saltothe act of going head over heels
Finnish voltti, tehdä voltti
  • volttithe act of going head over heels
  • tehdä volttito perform somersault
French salto, saut périlleux
  • saltothe act of going head over heels
  • saut périlleuxthe act of going head over heels
  • galipettethe act of going head over heels
German Salto, Überschlag
  • Saltothe act of going head over heels
  • Überschlagthe act of going head over heels
  • Kopsibolterthe act of going head over heels
  • Purzelbaumthe act of going head over heels
Greek κυβίστηση, τούμπα
  • κυβίστηση (kyvístisi)the act of going head over heels
  • τούμπα (toúmpa)the act of going head over heels
Hebrew סַלְטָה, גִּלְגּוּל
  • סַלְטָה (sálta)the act of going head over heels
  • גִּלְגּוּל (gilgúl)the act of going head over heels
Hungarian szaltó, bukfenc
  • szaltóthe act of going head over heels
  • bukfencthe act of going head over heels
  • szaltózikto perform somersault
  • bukfencezikto perform somersault
  • bukfencet vetto perform somersault
Icelandic kollhnís, heljarstökk
  • kollhnísthe act of going head over heels
  • heljarstökkthe act of going head over heels
Indonesian salto
  • saltothe act of going head over heels
Irish aer-rothlú
  • aer-rothlúthe act of going head over heels
Italian capriola
  • capriolathe act of going head over heels
Japanese 宙返り
  • 宙返り (chūgaeri)the act of going head over heels
Korean 공중제비
  • 공중제비 (gongjungjebi)the act of going head over heels
Latvian kūlenis
  • kūlenisthe act of going head over heels
Māori pōtēteke, pōteketeke
  • pōtētekethe act of going head over heels
  • pōteketekethe act of going head over heels
  • turupekethe act of going head over heels
  • pōtēteketo perform somersault
  • pōteketeketo perform somersault
  • turupeketo perform somersault
Norwegian Bokmål salto, saltomortale
  • saltothe act of going head over heels
  • saltomortalethe act of going head over heels
Polish salto, koziołek
  • saltothe act of going head over heels
  • koziołekthe act of going head over heels
  • przewrótthe act of going head over heels
Portuguese salto mortal, cambalhota
  • salto mortalthe act of going head over heels
  • cambalhotathe act of going head over heels
  • dar um mortalto perform somersault
Romanian tumbă, rostogolire
  • tumbăthe act of going head over heels
  • rostogolirethe act of going head over heels
Russian кульби́т, кувыро́к
  • кульби́т (kulʹbít)the act of going head over heels
  • кувыро́к (kuvyrók)the act of going head over heels
  • са́льто (sálʹto)the act of going head over heels
Scottish Gaelic car a' mhuiltein
  • car a' mhuilteinthe act of going head over heels
Slovak kotrmelec, kotúľ
  • kotrmelecthe act of going head over heels
  • kotúľthe act of going head over heels
  • saltothe act of going head over heels
Spanish voltereta, salto mortal
  • volteretathe act of going head over heels
  • salto mortalthe act of going head over heels
  • volatínthe act of going head over heels
Swahili kichwangomba
  • kichwangombathe act of going head over heels
Swedish kullerbytta, göra en kullerbyta
  • kullerbyttathe act of going head over heels
  • göra en kullerbytato perform somersault
Tagalog balintong, bumalintong
  • balintongthe act of going head over heels
  • bumalintongto perform somersault
Turkish perende
  • perendethe act of going head over heels
Ukrainian са́льто, пере́кид
  • са́льто (sálʹto)the act of going head over heels
  • пере́кид (perékyd)the act of going head over heels
  • пере́верт (perévert)the act of going head over heels
Vietnamese lộn, nhào lộn
  • lộnthe act of going head over heels
  • nhào lộnthe act of going head over heels
Welsh tin-dros-ben, trosben
  • tin-dros-benthe act of going head over heels
  • trosbenthe act of going head over heels
Cite this entry
APA

somersault. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/somersault

MLA

“somersault.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/somersault. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “somersault,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/somersault.

Source: somersault on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.