# Is there any difference between endite and indict?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-difference-between-endite-and-indict/682081
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [February 24, 2014, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-difference-between-endite-and-indict/682081 "2014-02-24T10:34:37Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2014, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-difference-between-endite-and-indict/682081/1 "2014-02-24T10:34:37Z")
From the New York Post:
“This is the largest, biggest drug lord that we’ve ever seen in the world,” he said. “Therefore I [support] extradition to the United States where there are multiple enditements in multiple cties – San Diego, New York and Texas and Chicago – where we can deal with him in a secure, safe way and bring him to justice.”
I have honestly never seen the word “enditement” before. Online dictionaries refer queries to indict.
I look forward to your feedback
davidmich
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### Author:  [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2014, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-difference-between-endite-and-indict/682081/2 "2014-02-24T11:12:25Z")
according to wiktionary:
[http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/endite](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/endite)
Obsolete form of indite. [quotations ▼]. So why is it still used?
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### Author:  [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2014, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-difference-between-endite-and-indict/682081/3 "2014-02-24T14:00:50Z")
> [@davidmich](#):
>
> according to wiktionary:
> [endite - Wiktionary, the free dictionary](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/endite)
>
> Obsolete form of indite. [quotations ▼]. So why is it still used?
Following the link to “indite”, Wiktionary also calls _that_ an obsolete form of “indict”.
It’s not clear, but it looks as if the meaning of “indite” that “endite” is an obsolete form of is not the same as “indict”.
It just looks like horrible spelling to me.
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### Author:  [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2014, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-difference-between-endite-and-indict/682081/4 "2014-02-24T14:06:47Z")
Sloppy spelling.
> [@](#):
>
> Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity. – [Wikipedia: Hanlon’s razor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon's_razor)
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### Author:  [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2014, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-difference-between-endite-and-indict/682081/5 "2014-02-24T14:56:23Z")
I don’t think anyone attributed anything to _malice._
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### Author:  [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2014, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-difference-between-endite-and-indict/682081/6 "2014-02-24T15:06:24Z")
> [@Bozuit](#):
>
> I don’t think anyone attributed anything to _malice._
True. I apologize.
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### Author:  [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2014, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-difference-between-endite-and-indict/682081/7 "2014-02-24T17:50:31Z")
That’s okay – we don’t attribute it to malice. 😉
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### Author:  [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2014, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-difference-between-endite-and-indict/682081/8 "2014-02-24T20:05:34Z")
I think Endite is something you buy over the counter for flatulence.
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### Author:  [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2014, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-difference-between-endite-and-indict/682081/9 "2014-02-25T04:32:06Z")
> [@jtur88](#):
>
> I think Endite is something you buy over the counter for flatulence.
As opposed to Enzyte, which is something you buy for flaccidence…
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### Author:  [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2014, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-difference-between-endite-and-indict/682081/10 "2014-02-25T04:47:40Z")
An _endite_, according to the OED, is an appendage on the inner side of the limb of a crustacean. (Those on the outer side are _exites_.)
It’s also an obsolete spelling of the verb _indict_. It fell out of use, according to the OED, in the sixteenth century, which makes it less likely that the NYP usage is a rare local survival of a spelling considered obsolete elsewhere, and more likely that it’s a straight-up error.
Confusingly, _endite_ is also an obsolete spelling of the verb _indite_, meaning to put into words, to write down, to express in a literary way. In that sense _endite_ survived until the eighteenth century. But I doubt they use this word (in either spelling) at the NYP.
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### Author:  [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2014, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-difference-between-endite-and-indict/682081/11 "2014-02-25T09:41:41Z")
Thank you all.
davidmich