Language experts choosing the Oxford word of the year 2023 were dazzled by a bright young thing, selecting a relative newcomer, “rizz,” for the top spot.
Derived from the word “charisma,” “rizz” refers to a person’s ability to attract a romantic partner through “style, charm or attractiveness,” dictionary publisher Oxford University Press (OUP) said in its announcement Monday. The word received more than 32,000 votes from the public, OUP added.
“Rizz” soared in popularity earlier this year, after Spider-Man actor Tom Holland was asked by Buzzfeed what the secret to his rizz was. His answer? “I have no rizz whatsoever. I have limited rizz.”
The publisher of the Oxford English Dictionary added that the word can also be used as a verb, in the phrase “rizz up,” meaning to attract or chat up a person.
While word of the year contenders do not need to be new words, they must have a significance to the year in question. OUP said its 2023 shortlist was chosen to “reflect the mood, ethos, or preoccupations of the year.”
So, how did “rizz” fight off its rivals?
OUP’s experts shortlisted eight words, which were put into competing pairs for the public to vote on. From the resulting four finalists, the experts did one last analysis, before picking “rizz” as the winner.
The other finalists were “prompt,” the instruction given to an artificial intelligence program that influences the content it creates; “situationship,” which means a romantic partnership that is not considered to be formal or established; and lastly, “Swiftie” – the name given to an avid fan of singer Taylor Swift.
In 2022, Oxford’s word of the year was “goblin mode,” a colloquial term for behavior that is unapologetically lazy in a way that rejects social norms.