Label the Arteries of the Upper Limb

All 11 arteries on the diagram

Show the list

Chest and neck 3

Brachiocephalic trunk The first branch of the aortic arch. It splits into the right subclavian and right common carotid arteries.
Common carotid artery It carries blood to the head.
Subclavian artery It becomes the axillary artery as it leaves the chest.

Arm and forearm 5

Axillary artery The subclavian artery takes this name in the armpit.
Brachial artery Its pulse is the one taken with a blood-pressure cuff.
Deep brachial artery It supplies the back of the arm. Also called the deep artery of the arm.
Radial artery Its pulse is the one felt at the wrist.
Ulnar artery It runs beside the ulna to the hand.

The hand 3

Deep palmar arch Formed mainly by the radial artery.
Superficial palmar arch Formed mainly by the ulnar artery; it lies nearer the skin.
Digital arteries They carry blood from the palmar arches to the fingers.

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, Arteries Serving the Upper Limbs and table 20.9 (subclavian, axillary, brachial, deep brachial, radial and ulnar arteries, superficial and deep palmar arches, digital arteries; the brachiocephalic artery and common carotid in the aortic arch branches), https://openstax.org/books/anatomy-and-physiology-2e/pages/20-5-circulatory-pathways, and against Wikipedia, text only: List of arteries of the human body, Deep artery of arm, Superficial palmar arch, Deep palmar arch and Common palmar digital arteries. Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-10-05 by script, from points set by hand on a body of adult size; nothing traced. The figure is the right arm held out to the side and a little lowered, seen from the front, with the breastbone, ribs, shoulder blade and arm bones shown faintly behind the vessels. The courses of the arteries follow the layout of public domain plates in Henry Gray, Anatomy of the Human Body, 20th edition, 1918: fig. 505, The arch of the aorta and its branches (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gray505.png); fig. 523, The axillary artery and its branches (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gray523.png); fig. 525, The brachial artery (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gray525.png); fig. 527, The radial and ulnar arteries (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gray527.png); and fig. 528, Ulnar and radial arteries. Deep view. (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gray528.png). Where the picture departs from the body: the arm is drawn a little stouter and the hand about a seventh larger than life, so the arteries and the two palmar arches have room; the arch of the aorta, its two other branches and the two carotids above the fork in the neck are drawn with fainter edges, for bearings only, and are not asked; the collarbone is drawn in front and the subclavian artery shows through it faded where it passes behind; the aorta and the brachiocephalic trunk are drawn in front of the faint breastbone and ribs, which in the body lie in front of them; the superficial palmar arch is drawn ending in the artery of the index finger, one of the common ways it is completed; the radial and ulnar arteries are drawn the same width, though the ulnar is the larger where it starts; and the forearm is a little short against the upper arm. Licence: own work

How it works

This is the right arm from the front, held out to the side with the palm forward, so the thumb side is at the top. The arteries run from the chest out along the arm and meet again in two arches across the palm.

Read the full guide

Follow the blood out

From the aortic arch the brachiocephalic trunk rises and splits: the common carotid goes up the neck and the subclavian out under the collarbone. It becomes the axillary artery in the armpit and the brachial artery down the arm, then splits at the elbow into the radial and ulnar arteries, which meet in the palmar arches.

Radial is on the thumb side, where you feel the pulse at the wrist; ulnar is on the little-finger side.

Questions and answers

What are the main arteries of the arm?

The subclavian artery under the collarbone becomes the axillary artery in the armpit and the brachial artery in the upper arm. At the elbow the brachial splits into the radial and ulnar arteries of the forearm.

Where do you take a pulse in the arm?

At the wrist over the radial artery, on the thumb side, and at the inside of the elbow over the brachial artery, where a blood-pressure cuff listens.

What are the palmar arches?

Two arches of artery across the palm where the radial and ulnar arteries meet. The superficial arch comes mainly from the ulnar artery, the deep arch mainly from the radial. The digital arteries run from them to the fingers.