This article deals with three Russian dialectal phenomena: Vladimir Region ozorо́ chie “nasty person, unloved husband”, Baikal Region podsevúkha “a person who likes to sow dissention, discord”, Perm Region zub gryzt “to dislike someone, feel angry about someone”. These lexical units and a phraseological unit are semantically and motivationally reconstructed. The author supposes that ozorо́ chie word comes from Pskov, Olonetsk, Tomsk Region zorо́ k “pupil”. The inner form of the lexical unit comprises a concept that an unpleasant person attracts special attention. From the author’s point of view, the second lexical unit podsevúkha is related to Vologda Region podsevát “throw a handful of grains to someone else’s field”. Prefix podthat carries a number of negative meanings is also motivationally significant. According to the author’s opinion, the phraseological unit zub gryzt is an animalistic metaphor. On the other hand, it is noted that each component of the phraseological unit has its own motivational potential. Thus, zub (a tooth) in folk culture is a symbol of aggression, and the verb gryzt (to gnaw) is often used for naming malicious vocal acts.