What part of speech is asterisk?

"Asterisk" can be both a noun and an adjective, depending on how it's used in a sentence.

Noun:

* "The text contained an asterisk, indicating a footnote."

Here, "asterisk" is the subject of the sentence, referring to the symbol itself.

Adjective:

* "The asterisk-marked section was optional."

Here, "asterisk-marked" acts as an adjective, describing the section.

It's important to look at the context to determine which part of speech is being used.