Laaxum (West Frisian: Laaksum) is a hamlet in the municipality of Súdwest-Fryslân in the province of Friesland, the Netherlands.

It is located south of Warns on the edge of the IJsselmeer in the west of the Gaasterland region.

In 1245 the place was also mentioned as Laxum, in 1325 as Laxnum, Laxen, Laxenen and Laezenen in 1487 and the 16th century as Laexum.

What exactly the place name means is unclear, possibly lak (lax) indicates soft flowing water, referring to the small peat flow where it originated in the swamp area, before the Zuiderzee got its bigger size later on.

[1] Around 1500, Laaxum was known for fishing for European flounder on the Vrouwenzand, a shallow area in what was then the Zuiderzee along the southern edge of Friesland.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Laaxum was a village with sixteen houses and two farms, in which more than a hundred people lived.