leopard vs leopardess

leopard and leopardess both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
leopard	Yes	No	No	No
leopardess	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, leopardess is a hyponym of leopard; that is, leopardess is a word with a more specific, narrower meaning than leopard:

leopard: large feline of African and Asian forests usually having a tawny coat with black spots
leopardess: female leopard

Other hyponyms of leopard include panther.

leopard (noun)	leopardess (noun)
large feline of African and Asian forests usually having a tawny coat with black spots	female leopard
the pelt of a leopard