Your tonsils are located at the back of your throat, one on each side. Specifically, the most commonly referenced tonsils, the palatine tonsils, are oval-shaped, pinkish mounds of tissue found between the palatoglossal and palatopharyngeal arches in the lateral walls of the oropharynx, just behind your soft palate. You can see them by opening your mouth wide and looking in a mirror
. Besides the palatine tonsils, there are other types of tonsils forming a ring called Waldeyer's ring around the throat opening: the pharyngeal tonsil (adenoids) located high in the throat behind the nose, the lingual tonsils at the base of the tongue, and the tubal tonsils near the openings of the Eustachian tubes
. In summary, your tonsils are lymphoid tissues situated mostly at the back and sides of your throat, playing a key role in immune defense by catching germs entering through your mouth or nose
