Other forms: further, farther, furthest, farthest
Far means a long way away. The far end of the beach, a village too far to walk to, a brother who moved far from home and rings twice a year.
It behaves oddly, and this is where learners slip. In plain statements English prefers a long way: it's a long way to the station, rather than it's far to the station. Far itself lives in questions and negatives — is it far? it isn't far — and in front of comparatives, where it strengthens them: far better, far too expensive, far more than we needed. As an adjective it marks the more distant of two things: the far side of the road, the far wall. The fixed phrases are everyday ones: so far means up to now, as far as I know means this is what I have been told, and far from clean means nowhere near clean. The comparatives are farther and further, and further is the one that also means more.
1adjectivefarA long distance away.~10%
“The far bank of the river was hidden in mist.”
synonyms: distant
2adverbgreatAt or to a great distance.~50%
“We didn't get far before the rain started.”
3adverbamountBy a great amount — used to strengthen a comparison.~30%
“This one is far better than the old model.”
4adjectivedistantThe more distant of two.~10%
“Her desk is against the far wall.”
Shares are an estimate: a language model read 12 sentences found in the wild and placed 10 of them on a sense (2 were unclear) — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.
Also accepted in games: distant
Far has hardly moved in a thousand years: Middle English ferre, Old English feor, and before that Proto-Germanic ferrai. It is one of those short blunt words English never found a reason to replace, so the version you say today is close to the version an Anglo-Saxon would have said.
Proto-Germanic
*ferrai
Old English
feor
Middle English
ferre
English, today
far
Middle English ferre, fer, Old English feor, feorr, from Proto-Germanic ferrai.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA