Phraseological units can be classified according to the degree of motivation of their meaning. This classification was suggested by acad. V.V. Vinogradov for Russian phraseological units. He pointed out three types of phraseological units:
According to the degree of idiomaticity phraseological units can be classified into three big groups: phraseological fusions (сращения), phraseological unities (единства) and phraseological collocations (сочетания).