sabotage

Sabotage (n.) means "Treacherous action to defeat or hinder a cause or an endeavor; deliberate subversion." It comes from the French word saboter that means to walk noisily, bungle. Sabotage comes from the word sabot. Interestingly, sabots are wooden shoes worn in some European countries. Its etymology is from French, from the Old French çabot, an alteration of savate meaning old shoe, probably of Turkish or Arabic origin. Perhaps the first sabotage involved shoe throwing...

--American Heritage College Dictionary Fourth Edition