For example, if you boil salt water until there is no water left, you will notice a crust of minerals on the bottom of the pan. This crust is a precipitate. In sedimentary rock terms it is an evaporite because, water was evaporated to leave the salty crust. The words sediment, and clast were mentioned above. Clast, is a sedimetary term refering to an indevidual grain which may be a mineral crystal.
Sediment refers to any unconsolidated or loose material.
Sand at the beach or mud in a lake are sediments. All sediments have a source. The location of the source is referred to as the provenance. This is the geographic area from which the sediment was derived. Sediments in the Mississippi Delta may have been carried all the way from Montana.