Kai Cenat’s fan-favorite term 'rizz' crowned Oxford’s 2023 Word of the Year, beats Taylor Swift's fandom

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Rizz, the term popularized by Twitch star Kai Cenat, has been named the Word of the Year for 2023 by Oxford University Press.

As streaming and content creation evolves into genuine career paths for online personalities, many have cultivated massive followings across diverse platforms. Naturally, these communities develop their inside jokes and phrases, creating a unique language for streams and videos.

For instance, tuning into an xQc stream often involves multiple references to 'The Juice.'

Taking it a step further, Kai Cenat and the AMP crew have notably popularized the term 'Rizz' in the past year or two.

This abbreviated expression captures the essence of charisma and how individuals express their personalities when conversing.

Kai Cenat’s ‘Rizz’ beats Taylor Swift's fan term 'Swifties'

The term 'Rizz' has gained such widespread usage in the past year that Merriam-Webster has officially included it in the dictionary, alongside fellow expressions like Simp, NGL, and Bussin.

Surpassing other emerging phrases such as Parasocial, Swiftie (referring to Taylor Swift fans), Beige Flag, and Situationship, the trend has notably surged on social media platforms like X and TikTok.

Casper Grathwohl, President at Oxford Languages, attributes Rizz as the "prevailing mood of 2023, where more of us are opening ourselves up after a challenging few years and finding confidence in who we are," as reported by the BBC.

Following in the footsteps of last year's winner, Goblin Mode, Rizz represents another internet phrase seamlessly integrating into everyday life. It will be intriguing to see what emerges as the winner next year.

Internet reacts to Gen Z term 'Rizz'

Within a few hours, the tweet shared on X had more than 315k views and several comments as a user wrote, "It is perhaps better than the early 20th century's appropriation of 'Fit' meaning attractive. Each generation always reduce words, to something new, which is utilised as cool for a scant few years. Thus, a beautiful word such as charisma, is trimmed down for the Z crew."

A user wrote randomly, "Question, since I don't have access to the OED at the moment: what did 'rizz' mean during it's popularity around 1800?"

Another user said, "Surely the Word of the Year - and the word of the last five years - is "So" (i.e. to announce a sentence). I've just heard it used twice in the BBC's trail of this news story!"

The next user wrote, "A win for Gen Z everywhere."