Problems related to the evolution of the English language have known an impressive increase of interest. The English language is a complex, multidimensional system, consisting of many subsystems whose evolution is due to a great number of factors, which have a major impact on its evolution, bringing profound changes. The paper under consideration is devoted to the semantic evolution of the English vocabulary, especially to the correlation between the English lexicon and the Greco-Latin element as well as to the identification of the most important factors, which lead to the change both of the form and meaning of the word.