Major Veins of the Body Labeled – Jugular to Saphenous

All 15 parts on the diagram

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Head, arm and chest 7

Superior vena cava It returns blood from the head, arms and chest to the heart.
Internal jugular vein It drains the brain, face and neck.
Subclavian vein The axillary vein carried on; it joins the internal jugular vein.
Brachiocephalic vein Formed where the internal jugular and subclavian veins join.
External jugular vein A vein under the skin of the neck, into the subclavian vein.
Cephalic vein A vein under the skin; it empties into the axillary vein.
Basilic vein It joins the brachial veins to form the axillary vein.

Abdomen and legs 8

Inferior vena cava It returns blood from everything below the diaphragm to the heart.
Femoral vein The popliteal vein carried on up the thigh.
Great saphenous vein A vein under the skin; it empties into the femoral vein.
Renal vein It drains a kidney into the inferior vena cava.
Hepatic veins They drain the liver into the inferior vena cava.
Hepatic portal vein It carries blood from the gut and spleen to the liver.
Common iliac vein Where external and internal iliac veins join.
External iliac vein The femoral vein carried on above the groin.

How this list was compiled: Every name and detail line was checked on 2026-09-30 against TeachMeAnatomy (the veins of the head and neck, https://teachmeanatomy.info/neck/vessels/venous-drainage/; of the upper limb, https://teachmeanatomy.info/upper-limb/vessels/veins/; of the lower limb, https://teachmeanatomy.info/lower-limb/vessels/venous-drainage/; and the inferior vena cava, https://teachmeanatomy.info/abdomen/vasculature/venous-drainage/); Kenhub, Major arteries, veins and nerves of the body, https://www.kenhub.com/en/library/anatomy/major-arteries-veins-and-nerves-of-the-body; Wikipedia, Median cubital vein, text only; and Henry Gray, Anatomy of the Human Body, 1918 (public domain), https://archive.org/details/anatomyofhumanbo00grayrich. Hints and detail lines are in our own words. Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-10-04 by a script. Own original drawing in code: a figure outlined with curves through hand-set points, each vein a tapering tube round a curved centre line. The courses of the veins and the build of the figure were checked against two public domain sources: "Venous system en.svg" by Mariana Ruiz Villarreal (LadyofHats), 2009, public domain, Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Venous_system_en.svg); and Henry Gray, Anatomy of the Human Body, 20th edition, 1918, figs. 480, 574 and 591 (drawings by Henry Vandyke Carter), public domain (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gray480.png, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gray574.png, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gray591.png). Nothing was traced or copied. Licence: own work

How it works

The major veins of the body labeled on two drawings from the front: the neck, both arms and the chest, then the abdomen and legs. The body’s right side is on the left.

Read the full guide

Upper body

Blood from the head comes down the internal and external jugular veins. In the arm the cephalic and basilic veins lead toward the subclavian vein under the collarbone. The brachiocephalic veins of the two sides join as the superior vena cava.

Lower body

The femoral vein, joined by the great saphenous vein, becomes the external iliac vein. The common iliac veins meet as the inferior vena cava, which takes in the renal and hepatic veins. The hepatic portal vein is different: it carries blood from the gut to the liver. To label the veins of the systemic circuit by hand, print the blank drawing.

A paired vein is labeled once; tap the one on either side.
These labeled veins of the body are the overview; the arm, leg, chest and neck each have a page with more names.

Questions and answers

What are the major systemic veins?

The superior and inferior vena cava and the veins that feed them: the jugular, subclavian and brachiocephalic veins, the cephalic and basilic veins of the arm, and the hepatic, renal, iliac, femoral and great saphenous veins.

Which veins form the superior vena cava?

The right and left brachiocephalic veins. Each is formed where an internal jugular vein from the head meets a subclavian vein from the arm.

Which veins form the inferior vena cava?

The right and left common iliac veins, each formed by an external and an internal iliac vein. On its way up the abdomen the inferior vena cava also receives the renal veins from the kidneys and the hepatic veins from the liver.

Is this the answer key to “correctly label the following major systemic veins”?

That sentence is a publisher’s labeling activity. This page shows the same veins on drawings of our own, so the layout differs, but the names are the standard ones.