tūtūā
1. (verb) to be low-born.
Kore rawa ia i whakaae ki te kohikohi kōrero mā Waiti mō te mākutu; he mea tūtūā ka tahi, ka rua kei kitea tōna kūaretanga (TTR 1994:117). / He refused to collect information for White about mākutu, firstly because this would be a lowly thing to do, and secondly would also reveal his own ignorance.
2. (modifier) disrespectful, lowly, mean, low-born.
Kātahi te mahi tūtūā ko tā koutou, ki te whakapononga i ēnei tāngata i paea mai nei e te marangai ki ō koutou tatau. Mehemea i riro mai i a koutou i runga i te rau o te patu kātahi ka tika tā koutou mahi, tēnā ko tēnei he mahi tūtūā tā koutou mahi kāore e tika mā ngā rangatira (TP 4/1912:1). / What a disrespectful thing to do, to treat as slaves these people who have been cast ashore by the storm at your doors. If you had taken them in battle then what you did would be legitimate, but what you have done is a lowly thing to do and not appropriate for the nobly born.
Synonyms: poroteke, ngākau pāpaku, ware, atuapo, mahimahi, hākere, matamau, matapiko, toharite, kaihākere
3. (noun) person of low birth, commoner, ordinary person.
Engari kāore tōna iwi i whakaae kia mahia e te rangatira ngā mahi a te tūtūā, ka tonoa kia mutu (TTR 1994:171). / But his people did not agree that the work of an ordinary person should be done by a chief and he was asked to desist.
