means A formal written charge, usually issued by a grand jury, that accuses someone of a crime and starts the criminal case against them.

from From the Old French enditer, 'to declare, dictate, write down,' which traces back to Latin indictare, 'to proclaim or declare,' from in- plus dictare, 'to dictate' (a frequentative of dicere, 'to say'). So an indictment is literally something dictated and set down in writing — an accusation made official by being spoken into the record. The silent 'c' is a later flourish: scholars re-spelled the word to flaunt its Latin roots, even though it was never pronounced.