rizz

What does rizz mean?

Rizz is the knack for getting someone to like you, usually in a flirting way. A person with rizz says the right thing at the right moment and makes it look easy. Oxford University Press describes it as the ability to attract another person through style, charm or attractiveness.

The word is a clipping of charisma. Oddly, it keeps the middle of the word instead of the beginning, which is one reason Oxford found it interesting enough to crown.

Rizz does double duty:

• As a noun, it is something you have or lack: "he has rizz," "she has zero rizz."
• As a verb, usually with "up," it means to charm or chat someone up: "he tried to rizz her up at the party."
• Unspoken rizz is charm without words, carried by confidence, a look or body language. Dictionary.com lists it as a common variation.

Dictionary.com notes that rizz is used much like the older slang word game, and that it is most often said about men pursuing women, though not only. In everyday talk it also stretches to charm in general. A salesperson who wins over a tough customer, or a celebrity who handles an interview smoothly, can be said to have rizz.

Examples

• Group chat: "he asked for her number with a Shrek quote and it WORKED. unexplainable rizz"
• Dating app: "your opener is 'hey.' that is negative rizz"
• TikTok comment: "he didn't say a single word. unspoken rizz is real"
• School hallway: "he's been trying to rizz her up since September"
• Wedding toast: "Dad says he won Mom over with pure rizz. Mom says it was the car."
• At work: "the new account manager has client rizz, they ask for him by name"
• Parent overhears: "Mom, please, you can't say rizz in front of my friends"

In these examples rizz follows words like has, got, no and zero, or works as a verb with up. Teens use it most, but it is common enough now that parents try it too, usually to their kids' embarrassment.

Where did rizz come from?

• 2021: Twitch and YouTube star Kai Cenat was using the word on social media by June 2021, according to Dictionary.com. He spread it through streams, TikTok clips, rizz tutorials and "rizz competitions."
• February 2023: Dictionary.com published a slang entry for it, a sign the word had left one creator's audience.
• June 2023: Use of the word peaked, Oxford says, around the time actor Tom Holland told an interviewer, "I have no rizz whatsoever, I have limited rizz." The clip was widely reported.
• September 2023: Merriam-Webster added rizz in a batch of 690 new words, defined as romantic appeal or charm.
• December 4, 2023: Oxford named rizz its Word of the Year. More than 30,000 people voted in a public round, and rizz beat finalists Swiftie, situationship and prompt.
• 2026: A Google search-trends study by Unscramblerer, covering January to August 2026 and reported by Mental Floss, ranked rizz third among the most-searched slang terms of the year so far.

Rizz vs game vs aura

All three are about how other people see you, but they are not the same thing.

If someone is being smooth with a crush, that is rizz. If they simply seem cool in a room, that is closer to aura. If they look better than the person next to them, the word is mogging.

Is rizz rude?

No. There is no swearing in it and nothing explicit. Most teachers would not blink at "nice rizz" in a hallway, and it is fine in a classroom joke.

Two things are worth a parent's attention. First, "no rizz" is a light insult. Between friends it is teasing, but repeated at one kid it can become a way to pick on them. Second, the verb is about flirting. An adult saying they want to "rizz up" a teenager would be inappropriate for the same reason "flirt with" would be.

How to reply to rizz

• Friend says "you have no rizz": "It's unspoken. You wouldn't understand."
• Your kid tells you "okay Dad, you have rizz": "Thank you. I'll be framing that."
• Coworker says "the client loved you, that's rizz": "Mostly I remembered his kids' names."

Is rizz still used in 2026?

Yes, though it is no longer new. Three years after Oxford's pick, rizz has settled in as ordinary slang that most adults recognize. You will hear it said sincerely, as a joke, and in parents' attempts to sound current, which is usually the moment teens start saying a word with a smirk.

Rizz is not the hot new word anymore; it is the word everyone already knows. For the bigger picture of what is current and what is fading, see the Gen Z slang list, and for the year's dictionary picks, the Word of the Year 2026 guide.