The article deals with the semantic development of Proto‑Slavic * lichъ. This adjective has many disparate meanings in Slavonic languages which have predominantly developed from the Proto‑Slavic meaning ‘odd, uneven’. The concept of ‘oddness, unevenness’ was mostly viewed as something undesirable and harmful which is reflected by meanings like ‘needless, futile, vain, wretched, evil, ominous etc.’. There is, however, also a group of positive meanings in Slavic languages, such as ‘free, daring, high‑spirited, skilful, famous’. The semantic shift to these meanings has not been satisfactorily explained. We suggest a development via the meanings ‘free from sth, singular’ (partially attested in Old Church Slavonic and some other Slavic languages) as one of the possible directions of semantic development of * lichъ from which the aforementioned positive meanings could be explained.