Zapotec writing was logographic and presumably syllabic. Ideograms were precursors of logographic writing systems such as Egyptian hieroglyphs and Chinese characters. Mesoamerican scripts deciphered to date are a combination of logographic and syllabic values. Hieroglyphs combined logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elements, with a total of some 1,000 distinct characters. Most logographic systems have a strong syllabic component. The toponyms are written in a mixture of logographic and syllabic signs. While most languages do not use wholly logographic writing systems, many languages use some logograms. Many signs in the script were polyvalent, having both a syllabic and logographic meaning. Several of these languages had previously been written with logographic and syllabic scripts. Note that no logographic script is composed solely of logograms. The hieroglyphic script was logographic with phonetic adjuncts that included an effective alphabet. The script is a mix between a logographic and a syllabic system. Beyond the logographic Chinese writing, many phonetic scripts are in existence in Asia. Stroke order is also attested in other logographic scripts, e.g. cuneiform. The early logographic system of cuneiform script took many years to master.