The hollow tube inside the neck that starts behind the nose and ends at the top of the trachea (windpipe) and esophagus (the tube that goes to the stomach). The pharynx is about 5 inches long, depending on body size.The pharynx, more commonly known as the throat, is a five cm long tube extending behind the nasal and oral cavities until the voice box (larynx) and the esophagus. Essentially, it forms a continuous muscular passage for air, food, and liquids to travel down from your nose and mouth to your lungs and stomach.Most sensory innervation of the pharynx is derived from the glossopharyngeal nerve, specifically the pharyngeal and tonsillar branches (cranial nerve IX), except for the anterior part of the nasopharynx, which is innervated by a branch of the maxillary nerve (cranial nerve V2) called the pharyngeal nerve.The pharynx is composed of mucous membrane, submucosal connective tissue, glands, lymphoid tissue, muscle and an outermost adventitial coating. The mucous membrane does not possess a muscular layer.The oropharynx and pharynx proper are lined by largely non-keratinizing stratified squamous epithelium. The nasopharynx is mainly lined by ciliated columnar epithelium but stratified squamous epithelium occurs at its lower end where it joins the oropharynx.