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Glite Dictionary
posterior facial vein

posterior facial vein

8.4
A blood vessel in front of the ear that carries blood from the face toward the neck
  • noun
  • Specialized
translation icon : vena facial posterior
  • Venous drainage of the submandibular gland occurs via the posterior facial vein, which drains into the internal jugular vein.

Examples

  • The vascular supply to the gland is coagulated and ligated while both the facial artery and the posterior facial vein are preserved.

    Academic text (2004)

  • The facial artery and the posterior facial vein groove the posterior part of the gland.

    Academic text (2004)

  • The posterior facial vein is identified and retracted posterosuperiorly.

    Academic text (2004)

  • It passes deep into the platysma muscle and lateral to the posterior facial vein and the investing layer of the deep cervical fascia.

    Academic text (2004)

  • The posterior facial vein drains blood from the area around the jaw and ear.

  • Surgeons carefully avoid damaging the posterior facial vein during the procedure.

  • A blockage in the posterior facial vein can lead to swelling in the face.

Synonyms

retromandibular vein
vsposterior facial vein
  • Specialized
8.1

A blood vessel behind the lower jaw formed when two blood vessels from the face join

sits in front of the ear and forms from temporal veins as a branch

Surface Forms

posterior facial vein singular
posterior facial veins plural

Morphology

posterior + facial + vein

The meaning is directly compositional: 'posterior' (rear) + 'facial' (of the face) + 'vein' (blood vessel) yields the straightforward sense 'the rear branch of the facial vein.' This medical naming follows standard adjective + noun patterns that are cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words can infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Posterior facial vein comes from Latin words: posterior meaning 'back', facial meaning 'face', and vein meaning 'a blood vessel'. So the name literally means the vein at the back part of the face near the ear, which is why it refers to that specific vessel.