This dataset contains imageability and familiarity ratings for Ukrainian and English work-related proverbs collected from Ukrainian university students. The data were gathered as part of a cross-linguistic study examining how bodily grounding influences the mental imagery associated with proverbial expressions in a first language (L1) and a second language (L2). The participants (N = 49) were students at Vasyl’ Stus Donetsk National University. Ukrainian was their first language (L1), and English was their second language (L2). Participants evaluated Ukrainian and English work-related proverbs using 7-point Likert scales measuring imageability and familiarity. The stimulus set consisted of two proverb categories: body-based (BOD) proverbs containing explicit references to bodily actions, body parts, or sensorimotor experiences, and abstract (ABS) proverbs expressing work-related meanings without direct bodily imagery. Ratings were collected separately for Ukrainian and English proverb sets. The dataset includes raw participant responses, worksheet-level calculations, category means, language-specific means, and derived variables used for hypothesis testing. Statistical calculations included comparisons between BOD and ABS proverb categories as well as between L1 and L2 proverb processing. All participant data are fully anonymized. No personally identifiable information is included. The dataset may be useful for research on embodied cognition, conceptual metaphor theory, psycholinguistics, figurative language processing, proverb comprehension, imageability, familiarity, and cross-linguistic studies of language representation. File contents • Raw imageability ratings for Ukrainian proverbs • Raw imageability ratings for English proverbs • Raw familiarity ratings for Ukrainian proverbs • Raw familiarity ratings for English proverbs • Calculated category means (BOD and ABS) • Derived variables for hypothesis testing (H1–H3) • Statistical summary tables Variables Participant_ID – anonymous participant identifier Proverb_Rating – participant rating assigned to a proverb Imageability – perceived ease of forming a mental image (1–7) Familiarity – perceived familiarity with the proverb (1–7) Language – Ukrainian (L1) or English (L2) Category – Body-Based (BOD) or Abstract (ABS) Mean_Score – average score calculated for a participant, proverb category, or language condition License CC BY 4.0