Farflung (also written far-flung) means distant, remote or spread over a great distance. It is an adjective, and it usually describes places, settlements or networks rather than a single object. A farflung village is a long way from the city. A farflung empire is one whose parts are scattered across the map.
The definition
The dictionaries give two closely related senses. The first is physical distance: a farflung place is a long way away. The second is distribution: a farflung network is spread over a wide area, even if each individual part is not especially remote. The game uses both senses. The rarer answers take the expedition further, and the map is the thing that connects them.
“Far-flung: distant or remote; spread over a great distance.”
Where the word comes from
Far-flung is a compound of far and the past participle of fling. The image is physical: something flung a long way from the hand. The word has been in English since the nineteenth century, and it appears most often in travel writing, history and geography. It is a slightly literary word, which is part of its charm.
The hyphen is standard in running text. The one word spelling is common in names, titles and game brands, including this one. If you are writing a sentence rather than a name, use the hyphen: far-flung.
How to use it in a sentence
They kept in touch with far-flung cousins through a family group chat.
The expedition mapped a far-flung island that no ferry served.
Her far-flung reading habits took her from Arctic history to Pacific geology.
The word is not a synonym for “foreign”. A farflung place can be in the same country; the point is distance, not borders. It is also not a synonym for “rare”, which matters for the game: a country can be close to home and still be a rare answer to a clue.
Why the game is called Farflung
The name is a small piece of world building. The daily set is an expedition, the five answers are pins, and the rarer the answer, the further the expedition travels. “Farflung” describes both the answers at the edge of the obvious list and the feeling of reaching a country you had to think twice to find.
It also avoids the usual geography game naming pattern. The game is not called Guess the Country or World Map Quiz. The name asks a small question, and the answer is a word most players already know but rarely use.