Word Confusion: Indict versus Indite

Posted January 22, 2019 by Kathy Davie in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

Revised as of
13 Jan 2023

It was the phrase, “a strong inditement was laid against XX”, that felt wrong.

It turns out that an inditement is the act of writing. Yet the context gave me the impression of criminal charges, an indictment.

I suppose you could consider writing up the formal written charge against someone as an inditement, but it still doesn’t resolve the fact that inditement is the ACT of writing. Nor does it begin to express disapproval or indicate that someone is being charged with a crime.

Even discovering that indict and indite share a common origin in the Latin indicere meaning to make known formally doesn’t reconcile their meanings, for to indict is to charge with a crime while to indite is to write something, such as a note, a poem, a composition, a treatise, etc.

The first is a disapproval while the second could be anything . . .

Word Confusions . . .

. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.

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Indict	Indite
Defendants in the Dock at Nuremberg Trials by Raymond D’Addario is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. — War criminals indicted for genocidal crimes.	The cropped Writing is under the CC0 license, via PxHere. — All the tools necessary to indite.
Part of Grammar:
Verb, transitive Third person present verb: indicts Past tense or past participle: indicted Present participle: indicting	Verb, transitive Third person present verb: indites Past tense or past participle: indited Present participle: inditing
[Chiefly North American] Formally accuse of or charge with a serious crime [Of a grand jury] To bring a formal accusation against, as a means of bringing to trial Accuse of wrongdoing Castigate Criticize	[Archaic] To compose or write, as a poem To treat in a literary composition [Obsolete] To dictate [Obsolete] To prescribe
Examples:
His former manager was indicted for fraud. So let her marry again, and we can indict her for bigamy. The grand jury indicted him for murder. He tends to indict everyone of plotting against him.	He indites the wondrous tale of Our Lord. Indite a letter to your son. This may well be the last poem I indite. I cannot indite of that which I have not experienced. George proceeded to indite a note to Margaret, with my love in it.
Derivatives:
Adjective: indictable, unindicted Noun: indictee, indicter, indicting, indictment, indictor Verb, transitive: reindict	Noun: inditement, inditer, inditing
History of the Word:
Middle English endite, indite is from the Anglo-Norman French enditer, based on the Latin indicere meaning proclaim, appoint, from in- (towards) + dicere (pronounce, utter). 1620–30, as a variant spelling from the Medieval Latin of indite.	Middle English endite, from the Old French enditier is based on the Latin indicere.

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C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!

Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.

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