Meaning

noun an agent that causes a precipitate to form

adjective done with very great haste and without due deliberation; - Shakespeare; - Arthur Geddes

originThe adjective is borrowed from Middle French précipitant, Old French precipitant (“acting hastily, hasty, rash; acting, happening, or moving rapidly; pressing”) (modern French précipitant), and from their etymon Late Latin praecipitans (“hasty, rash”), an adjective use of Latin praecipitāns, the present participle of praecipitō (“to cast down; to throw headlong”), from praeceps (“head first,…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0