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''Rizz'' () is an
The popularity of the word in mid-2021 is attributed to Kai Cenat. Streaming on Twitch, Cenat would share to people how to have "rizz" and developed other phrases, such as "W rizz" and "L rizz", to describe a person's "winning" or "losing" abilities at attracting or chatting up a person/potential love interest.
''Rizz'' is a colloquial noun, used when describing possession of charisma. As a verb, ''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 '' charisma'' was shortened to create the word ''rizz''. Oxford University Press described this formation pattern for a word as "unusual". However, this formation pattern can be seen in the shortening of words such as ''
internet slang
Internet slang (also called Internet shorthand, cyber-slang, netspeak, digispeak or chatspeak) is a non-standard or unofficial form of language used by people on the Internet to communicate to one another. An example of Internet slang is "LOL" m ...
word defined as "style, charm, or attractiveness; the ability to attract a romantic or sexual partner"; it originated as an abbreviation of the word '' charisma''. The phrase was made popular outside the African American community by American YouTuber and Twitch streamer Kai Cenat in mid-2021, though it was used colloquially long before. It subsequently garnered virality on the social media application TikTok. Oxford University Press named it its word of the year for 2023.
Etymology
The popularity of the word in mid-2021 is attributed to Kai Cenat. Streaming on Twitch, Cenat would share to people how to have "rizz" and developed other phrases, such as "W rizz" and "L rizz", to describe a person's "winning" or "losing" abilities at attracting or chatting up a person/potential love interest.
''Rizz'' is a colloquial noun, used when describing possession of charisma. As a verb, ''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 '' charisma'' was shortened to create the word ''rizz''. Oxford University Press 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, colloquially fridge, is a commercial and home appliance consisting of a thermally insulated compartment and a heat pump (mechanical, electronic or chemical) that transfers heat from its inside to its external environment so th ...
'' (''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 symptoms ...
'' (''flu'').
The word is mainly used by Generation Z
Generation Z (or more commonly Gen Z for short), colloquially known as zoomers, is the Western world, Western demography, demographic Cohort (statistics), cohort succeeding Millennials and preceding Generation Alpha. Researchers and popular me ...
(people born in the late 1990s to late 2000s), though it has attracted significant use from Generation Alpha (people born in the early 2010s to early to mid-2020s) 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. The term may also be used to modify names, such as "Walt Rizzney" or "Rizzard of Oz" as word plays on Walt Disney and The Wizard of Oz
''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' or ''The Wizard of Oz'' most commonly refers to:
*'' The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'', a 1900 American novel by L. Frank Baum often reprinted as ''The Wizard of Oz''
** Wizard of Oz (character), from the Baum novel serie ...
respectively.
In the media
Cenat stated in a June 2022 interview on the '' No Jumper'' podcast that after the word went viral on TikTok 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 explained in an interview withBuzzFeed
BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet 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 S. Johnson III to focus on tracking viral content. Ken ...
that he possessed "limited rizz" and it was by playing the "long game" that helped to win over his girlfriend, actress Zendaya. From this, a number of meme
A meme ( ) is an idea, behavior, or style that 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 cultural i ...
s were created.
Rizz was named the '' Oxford English Dictionary'' Word of the Year for 2023.
See also
* List of Generation Z slang * ''Gyat
''Gyat'' ( /ɡjɑːt/; an abbreviation of ''Goddamn'', also spelled as ''Gyatt'' or ''Gyattt'', pronounced ; ) is a term from African-American Vernacular English originally used in exclamation. In the 2020s, the word experienced a semantic ...
'' – another slang term popularized by Cenat
* Skibidi
"Skibidi" is a dance song by Russian rave band Little Big. It was released on 5 October 2018 along with their album ''Antipositive, Pt. 2'' on Warner Music Russia. Ilya Prusikin and the media producer of the group 'Khleb", Lyubim Khomchuk w ...
* Skibidi Toilet
''Skibidi Toilet'' is a machinima web series of YouTube videos and shorts created by Alexey Gerasimov and uploaded on his YouTube channel '. Produced using Source Filmmaker, the series follows a fictional war between human-headed toilets and h ...
References
{{Generation Z slang Internet slang 2020s slang 2021 neologisms Internet memes introduced in 2021 2021 in Internet culture