Far

In Appalachian and Southern mountain speech, "far" can mean "fire" or refer to distance, depending on context. The pronunciation is a hallmark of the regional accent - one of the first things outsiders notice and locals smile about.

#SouthernWords #Appalachia

synonyms: fire, blaze, flame, distant, away

Hillbilly Dude Says...

'Far' is something you'll hear. Often at the end of the exclamation 'shoot far!'

Hillbilly Dude Says...

'Far' is something you'll hear. Often at the end of the exclamation 'shoot far!'

Pronunciation

[FAHR]
/faɹ/ or /fɑːɹ/

Meaning & Usage

- Fire (noun)

Elmer:

What time you think th’ farworks are goin’ off?

Estel:

Shoot far, Elmer. How would I know?

- Far (distance) (adverb or adjective)

Elmer:

Where’d that rurnt cow run off to?

Estel:

I reckon somewheres far off.

variations: fire, distance, fahr

★ If you hear "build a far," don’t grab a map - grab some kindling. ★

Origin and Etymology

The pronunciation "far" for "fire" comes from Scots-Irish and Northern English settlers who brought their vowel patterns to Appalachia in the 1700s. Over time, isolation in the mountain regions helped preserve this older sound shift. Linguists classify it as a regional variant of the "price-start merger," a vowel change that makes "fire," "tire," and "wire" sound closer to "far," "tar," and "war."

Usage Notes

"Far" for "fire" is common in Appalachia, the Ozarks, and parts of the rural South.
It’s a feature of accent, not a separate word - most speakers write "fire" but say "far."
Heard in everyday talk and older speech, especially in phrases like "build a far," "set the far," or "farplace."
Outside the region, the pronunciation is often imitated or misunderstood as laziness, though it reflects genuine linguistic history.
Speakers often switch back to the standard "fire" pronunciation in formal contexts.

Kin Topics

Appalachia

Common Questions

Do people really say "far" instead of "fire"?

Yes. In much of Appalachia and the rural South, "fire" is pronounced "far" - especially in casual or older speech.

Is that just poor pronunciation?

Not at all. It’s part of the accent, inherited from Scots-Irish English and preserved in mountain speech.

Does "far" mean anything else?

Yes - it’s also the ordinary word for distance, as in "a far piece down the road."

Where did it come from originally?

From vowel patterns in Scots-Irish and Northern English dialects. Settlers brought those sounds to Appalachia, where they persisted for centuries.

How to Cite This Page

APA (7th edition)
The Hillbilly Dude. (2025, November 8). Far. HillbillySlang.com. https://www.hillbillyslang.com/definitions/far
MLA (9th edition)
"The Hillbilly Dude." "Far." HillbillySlang.com, 8 Nov. 2025, https://www.hillbillyslang.com/definitions/far.
Chicago (17th edition)
The Hillbilly Dude. "Far." HillbillySlang.com. November 8, 2025. https://www.hillbillyslang.com/definitions/far.

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