There are researched some lexical and semantic transformations in the system of the Russian language of the XVIII-XXI centuries by the example of the lexemes “lover” and “mistress”. The meanings of these words greatly changed in the mentioned period of time under the influence of the tendency for semantic word structure change. After the represented analysis in the diachronic aspect it is possible to find out not only the great transformation of the lexical and semantic structure of the words, but also the opposite evaluation of the lexemes in the linguistic society.

There are characterized some lexical and semantic changes of the Russian language in the XIX-XXI centuries. There are thoroughly considered the semantic transformations of deviational type that cover the most of the lexemes.