Skip to main content
renal vein

renal vein

1 5.4
A blood vessel that carries blood from a kidney to the large vessel that returns blood to the heart
  • noun
  • /ˈrɛnəl veɪn/
  • Specialized
translation icon : vena renal
  • After the accident, the doctor explained that blood was not properly draining from the kidney because of the injured renal vein.

Examples

  • A blood clot in the renal vein can lead to serious complications.

  • Each kidney has a renal vein that drains blood.

  • Both kidneys are connected to the inferior vena cava by their respective renal veins.

  • During the surgery, the doctor carefully avoided damaging the renal vein.

  • The renal vein transports blood from the kidneys.

  • The surgeon carefully repaired the damaged renal vein during the kidney transplant procedure.

  • A blockage in the renal vein can lead to serious kidney problems.

Synonyms

vena renalis
vsrenal vein
  • Specialized
9.9

A vein that carries blood from the kidney to the body's large vein

refers to either of two vessels draining kidneys into the inferior vena cava

Surface Forms

renal vein singular
renal veins plural

Morphology

renal + vein

The meaning is directly compositionally derived from 'renal' (related to the kidneys) + 'vein' (a blood vessel returning blood), so a learner who knows both constituents can infer it denotes the vein associated with the kidneys. This noun-noun medical compound follows transparent semantic combining patterns and has clear cross-linguistic parallels, making it immediately comprehensible to learners who know the parts.

Etymology

Renal vein names the vein of the kidney: renal means 'of the kidney' and a vein is a blood vessel that carries blood back to the heart. So a renal vein takes blood from the kidney to the body's main vein.