What is the difference between the nasopharynx oropharynx and laryngopharynx?
Emma Martin
Published Mar 20, 2026
What is the difference between the nasopharynx oropharynx and laryngopharynx?
The oropharynx is the middle chamber of the pharynx that passes food from the mouth into the laryngopharynx. The nasopharynx opens above it as well. The laryngopharynx is the bottom part of the pharynx that marks the branching pathway between the digestive and respiratory systems.
What are the 3 parts of pharynx?
The throat (pharynx) is a muscular tube that runs from the back of your nose down into your neck. It contains three sections: the nasopharynx, oropharynx and laryngopharynx, which is also called the hypopharynx.
What does nasopharynx oropharynx mean?
Enlarge. Anatomy of the pharynx (throat). The pharynx is a hollow tube that starts behind the nose, goes down the neck, and ends at the top of the trachea and esophagus. The three parts of the pharynx are the nasopharynx, oropharynx, and hypopharynx.
What is the difference between oropharynx and pharynx?
The pharynx, commonly called the throat, is a passageway that extends from the base of the skull to the level of the sixth cervical vertebra. The oropharynx is the portion of the pharynx that is posterior to the oral cavity.
What is the laryngopharynx?
The laryngopharynx, also referred to as the hypopharynx, is the most caudal portion of the pharynx and is a crucial connection point through which food, water, and air pass. Specifically, it refers to the point at which the pharynx divides anteriorly into the larynx and posteriorly into the esophagus.
What separates nasopharynx and oropharynx?
The nose leads into the nasopharynx and the mouth leads into the oropharynx. The epiglottis separates the oropharynx into the laryngopharynx. The pharynx is divided into the nasopharynx, oropharynx and laryngopharynx.
Is the laryngopharynx part of the digestive system?
The human pharynx is conventionally divided into three sections: the nasopharynx (epipharynx), the oropharynx (mesopharynx), and the laryngopharynx (hypopharynx). The pharynx is part of the digestive system and also the respiratory system, as well as an important part in vocalization.
What is the Laryngopharynx?
What is part of the nasopharynx?
The nasopharynx represents the most superior portion of the pharynx, bounded superiorly by the skull base and inferiorly by the soft palate. The nasopharynx connects the nasal cavity to the oropharynx and contains the Eustachian tube openings and adenoids.
Where is the laryngopharynx located?
What are the parts of laryngopharynx?
The laryngopharynx includes three major sites: the pyriform sinus, postcricoid area, and the posterior pharyngeal wall. Like the oropharynx above it, the laryngopharynx serves as a passageway for food and air and is lined with a stratified squamous epithelium.
What are the parts of nasopharynx?
Boundaries of the nasopharynx[1][2]:
- Superiorly: the skull base.
- Anteriorly: the nasal cavity.
- Posteriorly: posterior pharyngeal wall.
- Inferiorly: the soft palate.
- Laterally: the medial pterygoid plates and superior pharyngeal constrictor muscles (surrounded by visceral fascia)