laxative vs aperient

laxative and aperient both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
laxative	Yes	Yes	No	No
aperient	Yes	Yes	No	No

As nouns, aperient is a hypernym of laxative; that is, aperient is a word with a broader meaning than laxative:

Other hypernyms of laxative include cathartic, physic, purgative.

laxative (noun)	aperient (noun)
a mild cathartic	a purging medicine; stimulates evacuation of the bowels

laxative (adjective)	aperient (adjective)
stimulating evacuation of feces	mildly laxative