Gen Zers are still negotiating their position in the world even though they are the ones whose personalities now dominate pop culture in societies and settlements. Oxford Word of the Year 2023 had been incubating around this influence that has now produced “Rizz” as the most influential vocable we can think of on Monday, 4 December, after 32,000 people voted.

The current year had to be described in four letters, and Rizz, a noun is what it amounted to. This morphing of alphabets captures what the word of the year is all about – a listicle of words showcasing the moods, interests and new social behaviours exhibited among demographics. It turned out that 2023 was the year when there had been much focus on personal and professional upgrades which fusion up to one’s charisma.

Every year through a voting system, the Oxford University Press debates candidates for word of the year and chooses a winner. Rizz means “someone’s ability to attract another person through style, charm, or attractiveness”, and it is a derivative of the root word, “Charisma”, gaining its source from the mid-syllable ‘ris’. It is an unusual formation compared to ‘fridge’ (refrigerator) and ‘flu’ (influenza).

It was a mid-year interview by the Spider-Man: No Way Home actor Tom Holland that especially brought on Rizz’s popularity. The 27-year-old Holland back in June submitted to a 30-question Buzzfeed series in which he had to provide answers. He was asked to reveal his secret rizz element that has enabled his relationship with the half-Nigerian Golden Globe Award winner, Zendaya to blossom and says, “I have no rizz whatsoever. I have limited rizz.”

A shortage of rizz is to mean that Holland finds success only in relationships where love happens naturally the way it occurred with Spiderman co-actor Zendaya instead of having to rizz up someone. This takes Rizz as the Oxford Word of the Year to deputising as a verb. To “rizz up” a person that one finds attractive is to try charming them to notice you.

ALSO READ: Get to know Nigeria’s first female Major General who looked after the army’s health

#WOTY23 shortlist is HERE 📣
 
Have your say on which four words make it to the final, below.
 
GO ⬇️
 https://t.co/4YHRTU2OkT pic.twitter.com/KCfVeuuA1i

— Oxford University Press (@OxUniPress) November 27, 2023

There were other words that made the finalists stage like Prompt which explains an instruction directed to an artificial intelligence program which then introduces its output. It is a picture of the AI-tuned environment the world is shaping up to be.

New identities relating to dating and relationships are emerging and so we have Situationship, the next finalist pointing a finger at those finding romantic or sexual contentment with each other although they haven’t formalised an agreement about where things could be leading.

When exploring music, one might come across a Swiftie – they are those who enthusiastically and keenly follow the American singer, Taylor Swift, down to the 33-year-old singer transmitting every angle of her personality into them. It is why the pop star is considered quite an intriguing entertainment figure.

Ayodele Johnson

Ayodelé is a Lagos-based journalist and the Content and Editorial Coordinator at Meiza. All around the megacity, I am steering diverse lifestyle magazine audiences with ingenious hacks and insights that spur fast, informed decisions in their busy lives.