What Does Rizz Mean On TikTok?

We’ll start with a different question. What do “sodoku,” “selfie,” and “toxic” have in common?

They’ve all been chosen at some point during this century as the “word of the year” by Oxford University Press, which publishes the renowned Oxford English Dictionary.

In 2023, that publisher called “rizz” the word of the year, thanks largely to its widespread use by Gen Z and Gen A TikTok users (and subsequently, on other social media platforms).

What does it mean? Read on.

“How to Have Rizz”

That’s one of a host of topics that popular Twitch streamer Kai Cenat discussed in continuing online discussions of “rizz.” The word is said to have originated in African-American culture before it was used by Cenat and “appropriated” by a much larger audience; it’s the middle syllable of the word “charisma.” Cenat is also credited with popularizing the word “gyatt” online.

It wasn’t long before “rizz” began showing up in TikTok posts. Its use grew exponentially once the actor Tom Holland said in a highly-publicized interview that he had to play the long game to win actress Zendaya as a girlfriend because he had “limited rizz.”

In TikTok parlance, rizz is shorthand for the ability to charm or attract romantic attention from others. Someone who “has rizz” is a person whose magnetism lets them flirt effortlessly and successfully in virtually any setting.

It’s a quality that’s been valued by generations but described differently throughout the years, of course. For example, millennials might say “he has game” instead of “he has rizz,” Gen Xers might use the term “he has the moves,” and boomers might have said “he’s a smooth operator.”

Cenat and others have come up with multiple variations of “rizz” like “rizzing up” a person (flirting with another), “W rizz” or “L rizz” (in order, someone who can win or has little success at “rizzing”), “Rizzler” (a person who’s extremely talented at charming others), and “unspoken rizz” (someone with so much charisma that they attract people when they walk into a room).

Cenat stopped using the word after he said it had been both overused and misused on TikTok and other apps — yet the TikTok hashtag #rizz has received more than seven billion TikTok views as of this writing. After having been christened as word of the year by Oxford, “rizz” is probably here to stay.