rizz
/riz/noun · verb
Meaning
Rizz means style, confidence, or charm that makes someone romantically or sexually appealing, especially an ability to flirt successfully. As a verb, most often in the phrase “rizz up,” it means to charm or flirt with someone.
- 1. The ability to attract a potential romantic or sexual partner through charm, confidence, or skillful flirting.
- 2. A person's romantic appeal or charisma, often judged jokingly with expressions such as “W rizz,” “L rizz,” or “zero rizz.”
- 3. As a verb, to flirt with or charm someone, especially in the phrase “rizz up.”
Examples
“Jordan has enough rizz to turn a coffee-line conversation into a date.”
“That awkward pickup line was pure L rizz.”
“She showed some serious unspoken rizz with nothing but a smile and eye contact.”
“He spent the party trying to rizz up someone from his chemistry class.”
Origin and spread
Rizz emerged from the shared slang of streamer Kai Cenat and his friends. An early surviving public example is Cenat's June 12, 2021, post asking who “really got RIZZ.” Cenat later said that the word meant “game” in his group and that repeated use on his streams helped popularize it; he has denied that they intentionally shortened charisma. The word nevertheless resembles an internal clipping of charisma, an interpretation now widely attached to it. Rizz spread beyond streaming culture through TikTok in 2022, developing variants such as unspoken rizz, W rizz, and L rizz. Oxford University Press named it its 2023 Word of the Year after a sharp rise in mainstream use.
How to use it
Rizz is casual, playful slang associated with social media, streaming, and younger speakers. It can be sincere, but it often appears in teasing or exaggerated ratings of someone's flirting ability. Although early public explanations frequently framed it as men attracting women, current use is not limited to a particular gender or orientation. Because rizz usually suggests appealing or successful charm, applying it to intrusive or unwelcome behavior may sound as though that behavior is being praised. In formal contexts, charisma, charm, or flirting skill is usually clearer.
Sources
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