The article presents the results of the research concerning antonymous concepts “honneur” and “déshonneur” and their place in French linguistic picture of the world. These notions represent in a language a semantic unity based on opposite concepts-universals and the ways of linguistic expression. These concepts are reflected in French proverbs and go back to different ages of the development of the French nation. The main aim of the article is to specify the notion “concept” on the basis of the works of Russian linguists, to present the results of the analysis of the paremiological materials of phraseological dictionaries.