What part of speech is the word count?

"Count" in the phrase "word count" can be considered two different parts of speech depending on the context:

* Noun: When "word count" is used as a noun, it refers to the total number of words in a text. For example: "The word count for this article is 500."

* Verb: In some cases, "count" could be used as a verb in the phrase "word count," especially when emphasizing the action of counting the words. For example: "We need to word count the document before submitting it."

However, it's much more common to use "word count" as a noun.