how to use print, pipe and getvar together?

[Khufu]

Hello. I know how to use

print "something" | "wc"

I also know how to do

"date" | getline var

Is there a way to use all of these?

words = "this is good"
print words | "wc" | getline var

where var has number of words?

I am sure this has been asked before, but I am short of effective
keyword to find this information from google.