Oxford University Press names ‘Rizz’ as word of the year

After more than 32,000 votes and a team of language experts, Oxford’s Word of the Year 2023 is “rizz” — an internet slang which pertains to someone’s ability to attract another person through style, charm, or attractiveness.

According to the Oxford University Press, the term “rizz” is from the middle part of the word ‘charisma’.

“Use of the word as recorded in our corpus has increased dramatically in 2023, with a peak in June 2023, when actor Tom Holland was asked in a widely reported interview about his ‘rizz’, to which he answered, ‘I have no rizz whatsoever, I have limited rizz’,” it said in a statement.

According to Oxford, the word “rizz” can also be used as a verb, often in the phrase “rizz up”, which means “to attract, seduce, or chat up (a person)”.

“Rizz” was one of eight words on a shortlist, all chosen to reflect the mood, ethos or preoccupations of 2023.

The list was narrowed down in a public vote, before Oxford lexicographers made the final decision, the BBC reported.

Last year’s Oxford word of the year was “goblin mode”, another slang term describing “unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly, or greedy” behaviour.

In November, the makers of Collins Dictionary revealed their word of 2023 as “artificial intelligence”.