遥 is literary and rarely used alone in modern speech. It commonly appears in compounds: 遥远 (far away), 遥控 (remote control), 遥望 (to gaze into the distance).
grammar
遥 functions as a bound morpheme - it needs to combine with other characters to form usable words. You wouldn't say 很遥 on its own; instead say 很遥远.
Motion radical on the bottom-left wraps under the phonetic - left-side form of 辵 - marks verbs of going and distance. To be remote is to be at the far end of a long road. Same radical drives 远 (far), 近 (near), 道 (way), 进 (advance).
phonetic
䍃yáo
earthen jar (rare)
Top-right 䍃 supplies the sound directly - yáo with matching tone. This rare phonetic also drives 摇 (shake), 谣 (rumor), 瑶 (jade), 窑 (kiln). Recognizing the ten-stroke unit unlocks the entire yáo phonetic series at once.
