''Rizz'' () is an internet slang word defined as style, charm, or attractiveness. It is likely short for ''

charisma () is a personal quality of magnetic charm, persuasion, or appeal. In the fields of sociology and political science, psychology, and management, the term ''charismatic'' describes a type of leadership. In Christian theology, the term ''chari ...

,'' and is often associated with

brain rot In Internet culture, brain rot (or brainrot) describes Internet content deemed to be of low quality or value, or the supposed negative psychological and cognitive effects caused by it. The term also more broadly refers to the deleterious effec ...

Background

The phrase was popularized by American

YouTuber A YouTuber is a content creator and social media influencer who uploads or creates videos on the online video-sharing website YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006 ...

and

Twitch Twitch may refer to: Biology * Muscle contraction ** Convulsion, rapid and repeated muscle contraction and relaxation ** Fasciculation, a small, local, involuntary muscle contraction ** Myoclonic twitch, a jerk usually caused by sudden muscle c ...

streamer

Kai Cenat Kai Carlo Cenat III ( ; born December 16, 2001) is an American online streamer, YouTuber, and internet personality who specializes in comedic live streams and videos. As of 2025, he is the second most-followed Twitch streamer with 17.6 mill ...

in mid-2021, with it being used among his friend group long before. It subsequently garnered virality on the social media application

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

named ''rizz'' its word of the year for 2023.

The popularity of the word in mid-2021 is attributed to

. Streaming on

, Cenat would share to people how to have "rizz" and developed other phrases, such as "W rizz" and "L rizz". It describes a person's "level of rizz"; to have "W rizz" is to have excellent charisma, whereas to have "L rizz" means the opposite, possessing bad charisma. ''Rizz'' is a

colloquial Colloquialism (also called ''colloquial language'', ''colloquial speech'', ''everyday language'', or ''general parlance'') is the linguistic style used for casual and informal communication. It is the most common form of speech in conversation amo ...

noun, used when describing possession of charisma. As a

verb A verb is a word that generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual description of English, the basic f ...

, ''rizz'' can be used to describe using charisma to attract someone, as to "rizz up" a person. It is believed that the middle syllable of the word ''

'' was shortened to create the word ''rizz'', though this belief is not universal.

described this formation pattern for a word as "unusual". However, this formation pattern can be seen in the shortening of words such as ''

refrigerator A refrigerator, commonly shortened to fridge, is a commercial and home appliance consisting of a thermal insulation, thermally insulated compartment and a heat pump (mechanical, electronic or chemical) that transfers heat from its inside to ...

'' (''fridge''), and ''

influenza Influenza, commonly known as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These sympto ...

'' (''flu'').

Popularity

The word is mainly used by

Generation Z Generation Z (often shortened to Gen Z), also known as zoomers, is the demographic cohort succeeding Millennials and preceding Generation Alpha. Researchers and popular media use the mid-to-late 1990s as starting birth years and the early 2 ...

, though it has attracted significant use from

Generation Alpha Generation Alpha (often shortened to Gen Alpha) is the demographic cohort succeeding Generation Z. Generation Beta is the proposed name of the following generation. While researchers and popular media generally identify the early 2010s as the ...

as well. Further development of the word "rizz" includes "Rizzler" or "Rizz God", meaning highly charismatic, and "Unspoken Rizz", meaning a person's ability to attract a person without speaking. Cenat stated in an interview on the '' No Jumper''

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

that after the word went viral on

he stopped using it himself, stating that the viral use on TikTok "butchered" the word. The term went further viral in June 2023, after actor

Tom Holland Thomas Stanley Holland (born 1 June 1996) is an English actor. The recipient of numerous accolades, including a BAFTA Award, he featured on the ''Forbes'' 30 Under 30 Europe list of 2019. Some publications have called him one of the most ...

explained in an interview with

BuzzFeed BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet mass media, media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John Seward Johnson III, John S. Johnson III to ...

that he possessed "limited rizz" and it was by playing the "long game" that helped to win over his girlfriend, actress

Zendaya Zendaya Maree Stoermer Coleman ( ; born September 1, 1996) is an American actress and singer. List of awards and nominations received by Zendaya, Her accolades include two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Awards, Golden Globe Award. I ...

. From this, a number of

meme A meme (; ) is an idea, behavior, or style that Mimesis, spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme. A meme acts as a unit for carrying c ...

s were created. Rizz was named the ''

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...

'' Word of the Year for 2023.

References

{{Generation Z slang Internet slang 2020s slang 2021 neologisms Internet memes introduced in 2021 English words

Background

Popularity

See also

References