great saphenous vein

The great saphenous vein (GSV), also greater saphenous vein, is the large (subcutaneous) superficial vein of the leg and thigh. The terms 'safaina' (Greek) and 'el safin' (Arabic) have both been claimed as the origin for the word 'saphenous'. [WP,unvetted]. Every claim on this page comes from the Leumas anatomy graph and carries its source.

What the great saphenous vein is

The great saphenous vein (GSV), also greater saphenous vein, is the large (subcutaneous) superficial vein of the leg and thigh. The terms 'safaina' (Greek) and 'el safin' (Arabic) have both been claimed as the origin for the word 'saphenous'. [WP,unvetted]. The atlas records it as a vein at the organ scale in the human body.

Where the great saphenous vein is

It sits in the lower limb, within the cardiovascular system. Positioned deliberately as part of this species body plan.

What the great saphenous vein connects to

The atlas records 16 typed relationships for it, across 4 kinds of connection. part of hindlimb, hindlimb zeugopod and leg, and 3 more.

Supply and innervation

Venous drainage: femoral vein, accessory saphenous vein, medial marginal vein, superficial epigastric vein and superficial iliac circumflex vein.

Also called

Also recorded as greater saphenous vein, large saphenous vein, long saphenous vein and vena saphena magna. Searching any of those names reaches this page.

Source

Uberon multi-species anatomy ontology (Mungall et al.), CC BY 4.0. Term UBERON:0001363, version 2026-06-19, retrieved 2026-08-24. Licence: CC-BY-4.0.

• Part of: hindlimb, hindlimb zeugopod, leg, limb, organism subdivision and vasculature.
• A kind of: blood vessel and superficial vein.
• Connected to: deep external pudendal vein, external pudendal vein and superficial external pudendal vein.
• drains to: femoral vein, accessory saphenous vein, medial marginal vein, superficial epigastric vein and superficial iliac circumflex vein.

Questions

Where is the great saphenous vein?

It sits in the lower limb, within the cardiovascular system. Positioned deliberately as part of this species body plan.

What does the great saphenous vein connect to?

Part of: hindlimb, hindlimb zeugopod, leg, limb, organism subdivision and vasculature.

Is the great saphenous vein the same in other species?

Leumas holds the same relationship vocabulary for every species it carries, so where another dataset records this structure you can put the two side by side on /compare.