豹
bào · HSK 7
leopard
🐆 Beast 豸 with a scoop 勺 of spots = leopard
Left side 豸 is the beast radical. Right side 勺 (sháo, ladle) suggests scooped-out rosette markings. Bào also sounds like POW — a leopard strikes fast and hard.
豹 — 豸 (cat-like beast radical) + 勺 (phonetic)
豹 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The left side 豸 is the radical for long-spined predatory animals (also seen in 貓, 豺), giving the meaning 'leopard.' The right side 勺 supplied the original sound. The character has meant 'leopard/panther' since oracle bone times.