indict

Meaning

Verb

• To accuse of wrongdoing; charge.
• To make a formal accusation or indictment for a crime against (a party) by the findings of a jury, especially a grand jury.

Origin

• From Middle English enditen, endyten, from Old French enditer, from Late Latin indictō, from Latin in- + dictō. indite.
• The irregular spelling is due to the word having been borrowed into Middle English from Old French, and not from Latin as was the case with most other descendants of dictō (but see dight). The borrowed regularly shifted to in the course of the Great Vowel Shift; the "c" represents a later attempt at graphic Latinisation.