AAAmerican Accent US
Illustration: the history of the word indict
indicsilentt
A letter that was never said

Why is indict pronounced in-DITE?

Indict was spelled endite in Middle English and still sounds like it. The C was added to match Latin indictare, but it was never pronounced.

Then · Middle English

enditen

said like en-DEE-ten

early modern respelling↓

Now · American English

indict/ɪnˈdaɪt/

said in-DITE

The story

Indict — to formally charge someone with a crime — came into Middle English from Old French enditer, "to dictate, to write down", and was spelled enditen or endyten. That is the word as it is still pronounced: in-DITE.

The French word came from Late Latin indictare, related to dictare, "to say, to dictate" (as in dictate and dictionary). Later writers reshaped the English spelling to look like the Latin, changing en- to in- and inserting a C. Only the spelling moved; the C has never been pronounced.

The original spelling survives in a twin word, indite, "to write or compose" — rare today, but said exactly like indict. Same word, two spellings, one pronunciation.

How the word changed

  1. 1

    Late Latin

    indictare

    Related to dictare, "to say, dictate".

  2. 2

    Old French

    enditer

    "To dictate, write down". No C.

  3. 3

    Middle English

    enditen, endyten

    Borrowed without a C, and said "en-DEE-ten".

  4. 4

    Early modern English

    indict

    Respelled after the Latin. The vowel has become "eye"; the C is never said.

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Questions people ask

+How do you pronounce indict?

in-DITE, /ɪnˈdaɪt/ — it rhymes with invite. The C is silent.

+Why is there a silent C in indict?

Writers added it to make the word look like its Latin source, indictare. English borrowed the word from French as enditen, without a C.

More words with a story

debtDET

English borrowed debt from French as dette, with no B. Scholars added the B later to show off its Latin root, debitum. It was never pronounced.

receiptrih-SEET

Receipt came into English as receyt, without a P. Writers added the P to make it look like Latin receptus. Recipe and receipt are the same word.

doubtDOWT

Doubt was spelled doute in Middle English, with no B. Renaissance scholars added one to match Latin dubitare — but English never pronounced it.

Part of

Why is indict pronounced in-DITE?