By Gregoire Winston ’26, Opinion Editor

Do you have “W rizz”? Would you consider yourself a Certified Rizzler? Were you blessed with the power of unspoken rizz? The Oxford English Dictionary has crowned rizz as its word of the year, surpassing “Swiftie” and “situationship” to earn the esteemed recognition. In 2022, the COVID-19 pandemic gave rise to “goblin mode” and “vax” in 2021. For anyone over 30 reading this, frowning at the meaning of rizz might be more than understandable. Gen Alpha has begun its well-expected generational right of passage: the enrichment of the English lexicon through its own use of slang. As such, “gyat,” “rizzler,” “sigma,” “smash,” and “Fanum tax” have cemented themselves within the teenage vernacular. Thanks to social media, namely TikTok, young children have entered a new age of communication extensively reliant on the latest internet trends. With the span of a few clicks, a seemingly benign term can amass millions of views and suddenly stand at the forefront of a generational cultural phenomenon. That being said, it’s time to brush up on your modern-day conversational skills. Where does rizz come from, what celebrities have popularized the term and in what circumstances would one use the word?

The word rizz is believed to be shorthand for charisma; Oxford defines it as “style, charm, or attractiveness.” Being able to charmingly pursue someone romantically would be considered rizz. Twitch streamer and Youtuber Kai Cenat popularized the term in 2021, given his 8 million follower base on the streaming platform. Recently, his reach on the internet spilled into reality: Cenat notably incited a riot in Manhattan after he promised to hand out free video game consoles, drawing thousands of avid fans to Union Square Park. Yet, once debunked, this false promise erupted into mayhem in the streets, causing public disturbance and requiring the NYPD to intervene. Cenat’s initial understanding of rizz involves being slick with words and turning an unfavorable romantic situation around. With time, expansion across social media platforms has shifted rizz’s initial meaning, much to the displeasure of Cenat. He stated “They butchered it; they killed it” while on the No Jumper Podcast. For him, rizz goes beyond having good looks or flirting with someone in your league, it involves “the hero’s journey from underdog to successful lover.” Today, that connotation has been lost. Whether you are flirting with someone you perceive as realistically attainable or not, successfully hitting on them is considered rizz. Basically, rizz is game, and game is rizz.

Within the celebrity world, rizz has spread through the ranks and infiltrated the colloquial speech of countless actors, TV personalities and movie stars. In June 2022, English actor Tom Holland was interviewed by Buzzfeed and asked about his relationship with fellow actress Zendaya. Holland declared having “no rizz whatsoever.” Social media blew up in the following hours, spawning a frenzy of Tom Holland memes making fun of the actor’s personal acknowledgment. And thus, rizz blew up, and so did any lasting figment of Holland’s dignity. A year later, Louisiana State University gymnast and TikTok celebrity Olivia Dunne met Baby Gronk, the number one college football prospect in the nation, at LSU while recording a potentially-trending video. In it, she imitated meeting Baby Gronk for the first time, hugged him and posed for a picture together. She attempted to convince the current highschooler to commit to LSU in a few years, which he agreed to. In the hours following, the Internet was quick to label the interaction as “Livvy rizzed up Baby Gronk.” Tom Hanks and George Clooney have also adopted the term. On BBC’s The One Show, the actors discussed their upcoming cinematic projects and agreed that “if you claim to have rizz, you do not have it. It has to be placed upon you.” A few seconds later, he added that “if you make that statement, you clearly have rizz” drawing a chuckle from the crowd. In December 2022, NBA sports journalist Shams Charania spoke to Kay Adams on “Up and Adams” about the Internet deeming him worthy of “rizz god” status. Despite not completely understanding the significance of his unofficial title, Charania accepted the recognition and noted that he “is focused on his work, not here to speak on his game. Let them say what they want to say, but I’ll take the compliment.”

Over months of deliberation and collaboration from 30,000 language lovers worldwide, employed by Oxford themselves, the Word of the Year has undoubtedly left its mark on society. Rizz goes beyond a term your middle school brother would use–rather, it stands as a testament to linguistic evolution and the gears of our modern-day culture. Words and phrases directly taken from Internet have seeped into mainstream culture, for better or for worse. Like so many of its predecessors, will rizz stand the test of time or be replaced by the next generational wave of vernacular terms? Only time will tell.