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Abstract: This comparative linguistics article analyzes the semantic differences between French words and gallicisms in Russian, words of French origin that have the same meaning in both languages but whose meaning does not coincide. The study is interdisciplinary: it is at the intersection of comparative linguistics and literary analysis. The borrowing of words, as a source of reconstitution of the vocabulary of the language, is a productive method even nowadays. A parallel is established between semantic transformations and style figures, rhetorical processes that imply a gap between the signified and the signifier. The method used is a comparative analysis of the words and their meanings in French and Russian. It is supplemented by a historical and etymological approach including cultural aspects that further explain the context of semantic transformations. To carry out this work, institutional sources such as etymological dictionaries in both languages were used, in addition to “popular” sources. A classification and explanation of the lexico-semantic differences follows. Within this classification, special attention is paid to changes of connotation from French to Russian gallicisms, particurlarly to the link between semantic transformations and stylistic figures. This approach to the problem will be of interest to specialists in the field of lexicology and the comparative typology of these languages.