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“Rizz” gained widespread popularity after actor Tom Holland used it earlier this year.
London CNN –
Linguists who chose the Oxford word of the year for 2023 were impressed by a bright young thing and chose 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 on Monday. The word received more than 32,000 public votes, OUP added.
“Rizz” gained 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 at all. I only have limited rizz.”
The editor 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.
Candidates for Word of the Year do not have to be new words, but they must have meaning for the year in question. OUP said the 2023 shortlist was selected to “reflect the mood, ethos or concerns of the year”.
So how did “Rizz” prevail against its rivals?
OUP’s experts shortlisted eight words, which were divided into competing pairs for the public to vote on. The experts conducted a final analysis of the resulting four finalists before choosing “rizz” as the winner.
The other finalists received “prompt,” the instruction given to an artificial intelligence program that influences the content it creates; “Situation,” meaning a romantic partnership that is not considered formal or established; and finally “Swiftie” – the name given to an avid fan of singer Taylor Swift.
In 2022, Oxford’s word of the year was “goblin mode,” a slang term for behavior that is unapologetically lazy and rejects social norms.