# Ilunga

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**Ilunga** is a [personal name](/source/Personal_name) in the [Democratic Republic of the Congo](/source/Democratic_Republic_of_the_Congo).

In June 2004, "ilunga" was reported as being a [Tshiluba](/source/Luba-Kasai_language) word meaning "a person who is ready to forgive any abuse for the first time, to tolerate it a second time, but never a third time", and – in the opinion of 1,000 [linguists](/source/Linguists) surveyed on the subject – the [world](/source/World)'s most [difficult word to translate](/source/Words_hardest_to_translate).[1][better source needed]

## Ilunga as a family name

Ilunga is a [family name](/source/Family_name) placed before the [given name](/source/Given_name). There are many famous African and African-descended people named Ilunga. For example:

- [Kalala Ilunga](/source/Kalala_Ilunga), legendary founder of the [Luba](/source/Kingdom_of_Luba) ethnic group of [Democratic Republic of Congo](/source/Democratic_Republic_of_Congo)
- [Sylvestre Ilunga](/source/Sylvestre_Ilunga), appointed as the [Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo](/source/Prime_Minister_of_the_Democratic_Republic_of_the_Congo) in May 2019-
- [Didier Ilunga-Mbenga](/source/Didier_Ilunga-Mbenga), [basketball](/source/Basketball), Congo, joined [Dallas Mavericks](/source/Dallas_Mavericks) in July 2004
- [Dorah Ilunga Kabulu](/source/Dorah_Ilunga), [politician](/source/Politician), Belgium
- [Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga](/source/Eddy_Kamuanga_Ilunga), artist, [Democratic Republic of Congo](/source/Democratic_Republic_of_Congo)
- [Hérita Ilunga](/source/H%C3%A9rita_Ilunga), [footballer](/source/Soccer), [Democratic Republic of Congo](/source/Democratic_Republic_of_Congo)
- [Masengo Ilunga](/source/Masengo_Ilunga), former footballer of [Ethnikos Piraeus](/source/Ethnikos_Piraeus_F.C.) born in Zaire.
- [Ilunga Mwepu](/source/Ilunga_Mwepu), Congolese footballer
- [Kasongo Ilunga](/source/Kasongo_Ilunga), Congolese politician

## See also

- [Words hardest to translate](/source/Words_hardest_to_translate)

## References

1. [BBC News: Congo word "most untranslatable"](https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3830521.stm)

- MacIntyre, Ben. *Why do Koreans say "a biscuit would be nice" instead of "I want a biscuit"?*, [The Times](/source/The_Times), August 21, 2004.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Ilunga](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilunga) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilunga?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.