Veins in the Body Diagram Without Labels

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

Fifteen lines, one to each vein. The upper drawing shows the neck, both arms and the chest down to the heart; the lower one the abdomen and both legs to below the knee. The figure faces you, so its right arm is on your left.

Read the full guide

Word bank

Upper drawing, seven: internal jugular vein, external jugular vein, subclavian vein, brachiocephalic vein, superior vena cava, cephalic vein, basilic vein. Lower drawing, eight: inferior vena cava, hepatic veins, hepatic portal vein, renal vein, common iliac vein, external iliac vein, femoral vein, great saphenous vein.

Easy to swap

In the neck the internal jugular vein is the wide one nearer the midline; the external is thinner and farther out. In the arm the cephalic vein keeps to the thumb side and crosses the shoulder; the basilic keeps to the little-finger side. The hepatic veins lie inside the liver; the hepatic portal vein enters it from below. At the dashed groin line the femoral vein becomes the external iliac vein.

The short slanted vein at the elbow is the median cubital vein, linking the cephalic and basilic veins. It is drawn and has no line.
For blank practice labeling veins of the body, fill the sheet in once with the word bank beside you and once from memory.

Questions and answers

What are the largest veins in the body?

The superior and inferior vena cava. Both empty straight into the right atrium of the heart: the superior one brings blood back from the head, arms and chest, the inferior one from everything below the diaphragm.

What is the longest vein in the body?

The great saphenous vein. It begins on the top of the foot, climbs the inner side of the leg under the skin and ends in the femoral vein just below the groin. The sheet shows it from below the knee upward.

Which veins on the diagram are superficial veins?

Four: the external jugular vein, the cephalic and basilic veins of the arm and the great saphenous vein of the leg. Each runs in the tissue under the skin and ends by joining a deeper vein. The other eleven lie deep.