Meaning
Slang for style, charm or skill in attracting a romantic or sexual partner; the capacity to flirt convincingly. Used especially by younger speakers, it works as a mass noun ('he has rizz') and as a verb, 'rizz up', meaning to charm or chat someone up. Informal, playful youth slang; sounds dated or ironic when used by older speakers or brands. Regional use: General English; strongest in online and Gen Z contexts.
Origin
'Rizz' is a clipping taken from the middle syllable of 'charisma', a formation Oxford University Press compares to 'fridge' from 'refrigerator'. It emerged around 2021 from gaming and streaming culture and is strongly associated with the American YouTuber and Twitch streamer Kai Cenat, who used it with friends and posted 'rizz tips' videos, popularising it among a huge audience. It went fully mainstream in 2023, helped by actor Tom Holland remarking in an interview that he had 'limited rizz'. In December 2023 Oxford University Press crowned 'rizz' its Word of the Year for 2023, after a public vote on eight contenders in which it beat 'Swiftie'; NPR and the BBC coverage confirmed the derivation and the Cenat connection. Derivatives such as 'unspoken rizz' and the verb 'rizz up' spread through TikTok alongside the parent word.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- rizz up
- rizzler
- unspoken rizz
- W rizz
Usage Examples
- He has serious rizz - he had the whole table laughing within a minute.
- Nervous about the party, she asked her cousin to teach her how to rizz someone up.
- The interview clip went viral purely because a movie star admitted to having limited rizz.