somersault

somersault

English

Alternative forms

• somerset, summersault

Etymology

From French sombresault (now obsolete, compare French sursaut, soubresaut), from Old Occitan sobresalt, from sobre- (“over, above”) + salt (“jump”), from Latin supra (“over”) + saltus (“jump”).

Cognate with Spanish sobresaltar (“to spook, startle”) and Portuguese sobressaltar (“to spook, scare, jump over”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈsʌmə(ɹ)ˌsɒlt/ IPA^(key): /ˈsʌmə(ɹ)ˌsɔːlt/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈsʌmə(ɹ)ˌsɑlt/

Noun

somersault (plural somersaults)

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

Derived terms

• back somersault
• front somersault
• somersault signal
• summy

Translations

the act of going head over heels

Aromanian: tumbã f Bulgarian: салто n (salto) Catalan: tombarella (ca) f Chinese: Mandarin: 筋斗 (zh) (jīndǒu), 跟頭／跟头 (zh) (gēntou) Czech: salto (cs) n, kotrmelec (cs) m Danish: saltomortale (da) c Dutch: salto (nl) m Estonian: kukerpall (on the ground), salto (in air) Finnish: voltti (fi) French: salto (fr) m, saut périlleux (fr) m, galipette (fr) f Galician: pinchagato, pirueta m, viravolta f, reviravolta f, pinchacarneiro m, chumbalagato German: Salto (de) m, Überschlag (de) m, Kopsibolter m, Purzelbaum (de) m Greek: κυβίστηση (el) f (kyvístisi), τούμπα (el) f (toúmpa) Hebrew: (airborne) סלטה \\ סַלְטָה‎ (he) f (sálta), (on the ground) גלגול \\ גִּלְגּוּל‎ m (gilgúl) Hungarian: szaltó (hu), (roll in gymnastics) bukfenc (hu) Icelandic: kollhnís m, heljarstökk n Ido: kulbuto (io) Irish: aer-rothlú m Italian: capriola (it) f Japanese: 宙返り (ちゅうがえり, chūgaeri) Kazakh: сальто (salto) Korean: 공중제비 (gongjungjebi) Latgalian: kiuliņs Latvian: kūlenis Maori: pōtēteke, pōteketeke, turupeke Norwegian: Bokmål: salto (no) m, saltomortale m Nynorsk: salto m, saltomortale m Polish: salto (pl) n, koziołek (pl) m Portuguese: salto mortal m, cambalhota (pt) f Romanian: tumbă (ro) f, rostogolire (ro) f Russian: кульби́т (ru) m (kulʹbít), кувыро́к (ru) m (kuvyrók), са́льто (ru) n (sálʹto) Slovak: kotrmelec m, kotúľ m, salto n Spanish: voltereta (es) f (by a child), salto mortal (acrobatics) Swedish: kullerbytta (sv) c Tagalog: balintong Turkish: perende (tr) Ukrainian: са́льто n (sálʹto), пере́кид m (perékyd), пере́верт m (perévert) Welsh: tin-dros-ben m, trosben m

Verb

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

1. To perform a somersault.

   The performer somersaulted all the way across the stage.

Translations

to perform somersault

Bulgarian: правя салто (pravja salto) Chinese: Cantonese: 打關斗, 打关斗 (daa2 gwaan1 dau2) Mandarin: 翻筋斗 (zh) (fān jīndǒu), 翻跟頭／翻跟头 (zh) (fān gēntou) Czech: dělat kotrmelec impf, udělat kotrmelec pf, dělat salto impf, udělat salto pf Finnish: tehdä voltti Hungarian: szaltózik, (performing a roll in gymnastics) bukfencezik (hu), bukfencet vet Ido: kulbutar (io) Maori: pōtēteke, pōteketeke, turupeke Swedish: göra en kullerbyta Tagalog: bumalintong

See also

• flip