The author analyzes the exponents ничего, ниче in linguistic and social contexts. It is supposed that these units have been insufficiently studied in modern Russian lexicography from semantic, grammatical and pragmatic sides. The meanings of these exponents are not always accurately described; in many cases, the particular relevance of the meaning is not given; pragmatic semantics is poorly represented or not represented at all. We suppose that the most productive description of semantic and pragmatic spaces of the lexeme ничего (ничё) is possible on the basis of parts of speech differentiation. The correct description also presupposes taking into account the pragmatic semantics of the units.
lexical semantics; pragmatics; social coloring of the word form; lexicography.