beast vs assailant

beast and assailant both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
beast	Yes	No	No	No
assailant	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, assailant is a hypernym of beast; that is, assailant is a word with a broader meaning than beast:

Other hypernyms of beast include aggressor, assaulter, attacker.

beast (noun)	assailant (noun)
a living organism characterized by voluntary movement	someone who attacks
a cruelly rapacious person