Other forms: furthered, furthering
Further means more distant, or additional. Further away, further information, take it further.
The rule taught is that farther is for physical distance and further for everything else, but further has always covered both and is the safe choice either way. As a verb it means to advance something: further your career. Further to your letter is a stiff business opening. Note furthermore; and that further is a comparative of fore, so it means more forward.
1adjectivefurtherMore distant, or additional.
“Please call the office if you have any further questions.”
2verbadvanceTo advance or help something along.
“She moved to London to further her career in music.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
further is a comparison of distance or degree.
Old English furthor comes from the root of fore plus a comparative ending. Forth, first and before come from the same forwardness.
Proto-Indo-European
*per-
Proto-West Germanic
*furþer
Old English
forþor
Middle English
further
English, today
further
Built from
From Middle English further, forther, from Old English forþor, furþor (“further”), from Proto-West Germanic furþer, from Proto-Indo-European per- (a common preposition), equivalent to fore + -ther a vestigial comparative ending still present in such words as other, either, whether, and, in altered form, in after; or as sometimes stated, as forth + er. Cognate with Scots forder, furder (“further”), stq foarder (“further”), West Frisian fierder (“further”), Dutch verder (“further”), German fürder (“further”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA