far-off

The compound 'far-off' is a relatively modern English formation, combining two ancient Germanic spatial concepts. 'Far', tracing back to Proto-Germanic ferro, carries the core idea of a great distance. 'Off', from Proto-Germanic af, embodies separation and movement away. Their union in the late Middle English period created a reinforced expression for remoteness, initially describing physical distance. Over time, the logic of spatial separation extended metaphorically, allowing 'far-off' to describe distant future events or abstract, barely conceivable ideas, thus layering a temporal and figurative meaning onto its original concrete sense.

Structure: far (distant) + off (away) 'Far' is from Old English 'feorr', meaning 'to a great distance', of Germanic origin. 'Off' is from Old English 'of', meaning 'away, away from', also of Germanic origin. Both function as core adjectives/adverbs combined to form a compound adjective.