The article reveals the nominative and derivational potential of the concept of invective in the French linguistic culture. Basing on the taxonomic approach the authors consider the basic conceptual features of invective, by means of which the development, profiling and nomination of a concept are carried out. The implementation of this concept occurs in speech acts of insults and attacks that can be represented as the propositional structure: subject-aggressor - predicate - object-victim. Nominative-derivational potential of the concept of invective depends on its non-performance essence and it is completely implemented in the predicate.