Chin"qua*pin (?), n. (Bot.) A branching, nut-bearing tree or shrub (Castanea pumila) of North America, from six to twenty feet high, allied to the chestnut. Also, its small, sweet, edible nat. [Written also chincapin and chinkapin.]

Chinquapin oak, a small shrubby oak (Quercus prinoides) of the Atlantic States, with edible acorns. -- Western Chinquapin, an evergreen shrub or tree (Castanopes chrysophylla) of the Pacific coast. In California it is a shrub; in Oregon a tree 30 to 125 feet high.