anterior cardinal vein
- noun
- Specialized
- The anterior cardinal vein develops early in the embryo to drain the cranial region.
Examples
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Researchers studied the formation of the anterior cardinal vein in developing zebrafish.
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In vertebrates, the anterior cardinal veins help return blood to the heart.
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Blood from the embryonic head is transported by the anterior cardinal vein.
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The anterior cardinal vein is crucial for embryonic development.
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Blood from the embryonic head is transported by the anterior cardinal vein.
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Researchers studied the formation of the anterior cardinal vein in developing zebrafish.
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The anterior cardinal vein develops early in the embryo to drain the cranial region.
Synonyms
A large early blood vessel in animal embryos that carries blood back to the heart
Surface Forms
Morphology
Each constituent is semantically compositional: 'anterior' = toward the front, 'cardinal' = primary/main, and 'vein' = a blood vessel. A learner who knows these words can infer this refers to the main/front vein (here in embryology, the vessel draining the head), and the term follows standard scientific adjective + noun composition rather than being idiomatic.
Etymology
Anterior cardinal vein literally names a main vein at the front of an embryo: anterior means 'front', cardinal means 'main' or 'important', and vein is a blood vessel. So the name refers to the large vessel that 'drains blood from the head toward the heart'.