What Does 'Rizz' Mean On TikTok?
You have encountered a new word on social media, welcome to the club. Unfortunately, after looking it up in the dictionary all you got was an error message. (Get with the times, Oxford!) No need to worry. We have walked you through Tiktok's "periodt" and we will not leave you now. In fact, social media is one reason it seems there are more slang words every day.
Author of "The Life of Slang" Julie Coleman explains, "It's not necessarily that language is changing more quickly, but technologies have developed and they allow the transmission of slang terms to pass from one group to another much more quickly" (per HubSpot). It is true, the internet keeps us connected.
Who knows what new words will appear tomorrow and from where. But before we're distracted by possibilities, what is rizz? How do you use it in a sentence? And maybe the most important question, do you have it?
Gen Z's take on having 'game'
Kai Cenat is the creator of the term rizz. He is one of the most viewed streamers on Twitch's live video game platform. With over four million subscribers it's no surprise the slang went from the video game steam to all over TikTok. The influencer took to "No Jumper," a pop-culture podcast hosted by Adam Grandmaison, to explain what the term means. In the interview, Cenat describes a scenario where a man is flirting with a woman to no avail. That is, until he turns his rizz on. Cenat says "You're just so slick with your words and what you're saying to where the girl is like 'who's this? Let me talk to him.'" It is a charm where even if you miss the first shot, you still score.
The term rizz can be likened to the phrase "having game." The Farlex Dictionary of Idioms defines that colloquial phrase as "To be very skilled at initiating a conversation with someone with the aim of having a romantic or sexual encounter with them." However, TikTok's trending "unspoken rizz" is different from Cenat's original definition.
TikTok's unspoken rizz
On the social media platform, unspoken rizz is all about attraction. So much so that you don't have to say a word, and the dates just keep coming. However, in the "No Jumper" interview, Kai Cenat says, "That's not rizz at all." Without flexing your charm and sweet words, you're not reflecting any rizz. You might just be part of the less than one percent who have a symmetrical face.
TikTok is filled with these unspoken rizz videos of people showing off their best physical assets before a single hand motion gets them the partner of their dreams. Maybe it was Pete Davidson's unspoken rizz that had him dating every Hollywood it-girl. Or Lori Harvey's rizz that scored the heartthrob Michael B. Jordan. Or maybe a lack of rizz is why some of us are single. Whether your best attributes are unspoken or need to be voiced, a little cha-rizz-ma (get it? charisma?) goes a long way.