Lower Limb Veins Diagram – Label the Veins of the Leg

All 13 veins on the diagram

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Near the skin 3

Dorsal venous arch It collects the toe veins and feeds the saphenous veins.
Great saphenous vein The longest vein in the body. It runs from the foot to the groin, just under the skin.
Small saphenous vein A superficial vein to the back of the knee. It starts at the outer side of the foot.

Deep veins 6

Anterior tibial vein Joins the posterior tibial and fibular veins to form the popliteal vein.
Posterior tibial vein It drains the back of the leg into the popliteal vein.
Fibular vein Also called the peroneal vein.
Popliteal vein Formed by the tibial and fibular veins. Above the knee it becomes the femoral vein.
Femoral vein It becomes the external iliac vein at the groin.
Deep femoral vein It drains the deep thigh muscles into the femoral vein.

Pelvis and trunk 4

External iliac vein The femoral vein takes this name as it passes the groin.
Internal iliac vein It drains the pelvic organs.
Common iliac vein The two common iliac veins join to form the inferior vena cava.
Inferior vena cava It returns blood from the legs and lower body to the heart.

How this list was compiled: Every name and detail checked on 2026-09-29 against OpenStax Anatomy and Physiology 2e, section 20.5 Circulatory Pathways, Veins Draining the Lower Limbs and table 20.16 (dorsal venous arch, anterior and posterior tibial, fibular, small saphenous, popliteal, femoral, great saphenous, deep femoral, external, internal and common iliac veins and the inferior vena cava), https://openstax.org/books/anatomy-and-physiology-2e/pages/20-5-circulatory-pathways, and against Wikipedia, text only: List of veins of the human body, Dorsal venous arch of the foot and Deep femoral vein. Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-10-05 in code (own drawing, nothing traced): a figure with the right leg held out to the side from the front and the same leg from the back, with ghost bones and the veins as tapering tubes, on the same figure as the site's lower limb arteries drawing. The courses of the veins were checked against public domain plates of Henry Gray, Anatomy of the Human Body, 20th edition, 1918 (Wikimedia Commons, public domain): fig. 580 (the great saphenous vein at the groin, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gray580.png), fig. 581 (the great saphenous vein and its tributaries, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gray581.png), fig. 582 (the small saphenous vein, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gray582.png), fig. 583 (the popliteal vein, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gray583.png) and fig. 586 (the iliac veins, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gray586.png). Licence: own work

How it works

The right leg held out to the side, its inner edge at the bottom. Solid lines are veins near the skin, dashed lines deep veins. The front view runs from the foot to the vena cava; the back view shows the calf and knee.

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Follow the blood up

Blood leaves the foot through the dorsal venous arch. Near the skin it climbs the great saphenous vein on the inner edge and the small saphenous vein up the calf. Deep, the tibial and fibular veins meet behind the knee as the popliteal vein, which becomes the femoral vein, then the iliac veins and the inferior vena cava.

Great saphenous runs up the inside of the whole leg; small saphenous only up the back of the calf.

Questions and answers

What are the main veins of the leg?

Near the skin, the great saphenous and small saphenous veins. Deep, the anterior and posterior tibial and fibular veins in the lower leg, the popliteal vein behind the knee and the femoral vein in the thigh.

What is the longest vein in the body?

The great saphenous vein. It runs just under the skin from the top of the foot up the inner side of the leg and thigh to the groin, where it joins the femoral vein.

Where do the leg veins drain?

The femoral vein becomes the external iliac vein at the groin, which joins the internal iliac to form the common iliac vein. The two common iliac veins form the inferior vena cava, which carries the blood to the heart.