This article investigates the concept of friendship as a culturally embedded semantic construct in Uzbek and English from the perspective of comparative translation studies. Drawing on cognitive linguistics and linguoculturology, the research examines lexical units, phraseological expressions, and proverbs that encode emotional, axiological, and cognitive components of friendship. The analysis demonstrates that despite the universality of friendship as a human value, its conceptualization differs significantly across cultures, creating systematic translation challenges. The study argues that conceptual equivalence rather than formal correspondence should guide translation decisions when dealing with culturally marked units. A translation-oriented framework is proposed to address conceptual asymmetry and ensure functional and axiological adequacy in translation practice.

Friendship, translation studies, culture

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