A forward or backward roll; often used in contexts like gymnastics, play, or falling.
The children are playing by doing somersaults.
He tumbled head over heels down the stairs.
Usually written in kana; the kanji form 翻筋斗 is rare.
Rare kanji form; the reading is a gikun/jukujikun.
The origin is uncertain. The kanji 翻筋斗 is a jukujikun reading, where the characters mean 'turn', 'muscle/tendon', and 'dipper/ ladle', but the reading もんどり is not derived from the individual kanji sounds.