shepherd vs shepherdess

shepherd and shepherdess both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
shepherd	Yes	No	Yes	No
shepherdess	Yes	No	No	No

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

shepherd: a herder of sheep (on an open range); someone who keeps the sheep together in a flock
shepherdess: a woman shepherd

shepherd (noun)	shepherdess (noun)
a herder of sheep (on an open range); someone who keeps the sheep together in a flock	a woman shepherd
a clergyman who watches over a group of people

shepherd (verb)	shepherdess (verb)
tend as a shepherd, as of sheep or goats
watch over like a shepherd, as a teacher of her pupils