Indict is pronounced in-DYTE, with a completely silent C, because its spelling and its pronunciation come from two different moments in history that never quite agreed with each other.
First, How Do You Pronounce It?
in-DYTE
Say it exactly like the word "indite" (an old word for writing something down), or like "in" plus "dyte." The C does nothing at all.
🌀 The Weird Part
Look at the word: i-n-d-i-c-t. There's a C sitting right in the middle, between the I and the T. Say the word out loud, and that C simply isn't there in the sound. It's not a soft C, not a hard C, not blended into anything else. It's just silent.
From Endite to Indict
The word entered English around 1300 as endite (also spelled indite), meaning "to formally accuse someone of a crime." It came from Anglo-French enditer, which traces back further to Latin roots meaning "to declare" or "to proclaim." Notice something: no C, anywhere, in that early English spelling.
Endite was used this way for roughly three hundred years, with no C in sight.
The Renaissance Spelling Makeover
Starting around 1600, English scholars and lawyers developed a habit: if a word could be traced back to Latin, they liked to change its spelling to look more like that Latin ancestor, even when the everyday pronunciation had already moved on.
Endite's Latin ancestor was indictare, which does have a C. So scholars respelled the English word to match: endite became indict.
The spelling changed. The pronunciation did not. People kept saying the word exactly as before, "in-DYTE," while now writing it with a C that was never meant to be heard.
A Word Split in Two
Here's a detail that makes this even stranger: the non-legal sense of the same old word, meaning "to write or compose," kept the older spelling instead. That's where indite (as in, to indite a letter) comes from today. Indict and indite are the same word historically, just sent down two different spelling paths, for two different meanings.
📌 Good to Know
Edict, verdict, and interdict all have a similar "-dict" piece, and in every one of those words, the C (as part of "ct") is pronounced normally. Indict is the odd one out: same-looking ending, completely different, silent treatment.
💬 In a Conversation
Priya: Wait, how do you say i-n-d-i-c-t?
Sam: In-dyte. The C is silent.
Priya: That seems made up.
Sam: It's not. English just redecorated the spelling once and forgot to tell anyone's mouth.
🥡 The OddLingo Takeaway
English updated the spelling.
Pronunciation declined the update.