The dwarf chinkapin oak is a shrub or small tree that typically grows up to 13–20 feet (4–6 meters) tall and 13–20 ft (4–6 m) wide.

[5] The epithet prinoides refers to its resemblance to Quercus prinus, the chestnut oak.

The species range extends from eastern Nebraska, south to Oklahoma (with an isolated population in Louisiana), east to northern Alabama and Georgia, northeast to New Hampshire, and in southeast Canada, extending as far north as the Carolinian forest zone of southern Ontario.

It has a virtually disjunct (discontinuous) distribution, fairly common in New England and in the Appalachian Mountains, and also in the eastern Great Plains but rare in the Ohio Valley in between.

[6] The acorns of dwarf chinkapin oak are sweet tasting and relished by humans and many kinds of wildlife, such as deer, turkeys, squirrels, chipmunks, and mice, each reliant on the nutritional value of chestnut oak acorns as a component of their diet.