Waldeyer's tonsillar ring

Waldeyer's tonsillar ring
Regional lymphatics. Waldeyer ring labeled at center top.
Details
Latin	anulus lymphoideus pharyngis
Anatomical terminology []

Waldeyer's tonsillar ring (pharyngeal lymphoid ring or Waldeyer's lymphatic ring) is an anatomical term collectively describing the arrangement of lymphoid tissue in the pharynx. Waldeyer's ring circumscribes the naso- and oropharynx, with some of its tonsillar tissue located above and some below the soft palate (and to the back of the oral cavity).

The ring consists of the (from superior to inferior):

There also normally is a good amount of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) present between all these tonsils (intertonsillar) around the ring, and more of this lymphoid tissue can variably be found more or less throughout at least the naso- and oropharynx.

Waldeyer's ring was named after the nineteenth century German anatomist Heinrich Wilhelm Gottfried von Waldeyer-Hartz.

Some animals, but not humans, have one or two additional tonsils: