Quite a few words have found their way in our daily vocabulary in the past few years. Words such as “situationship”, “swiftie” or “beige flag” have become increasingly popular and can be heard in daily conversations.
There is one word, however, that stood out this year: apparently, the word of the year in 2023 was “rizz”, as announced by the Oxford University Press.
“Rizz” is defined as “style, charm or attractiveness, and the ability to attract a romantic or sexual partner” according to Oxford University Press, which publishes the Oxford English Dictionary.
The term is widely used in day to day life and online, especially on Tik Tok. The famous YouTuber Kai Cenat is widely credited for popularising it as he frequently used it with his friends. E
ven Tom Holland used it in an interview this summer where he revealed that he has “no rizz whatsoever” when asked how he managed to win over his girlfriend Zendaya.
Casper Grathwohl, president at Oxford Languages, has declared that such internet derived terms “are increasingly becoming part of day-to-day vernacular” proving the how significant the internet culture is in influencing the way people express themselves.
Oxford Press University also took to the internet to conduct their study and created a poll where people were asked to vote between eight shortlisted terms.
” Rizz” was the highest voted term from the list which also included the words “situationship”, “beige flag”, “parasocial”, “heat dome”, “swiftie”, “prompt” and “de-influencing”.
[Image created via MidJourney]