dying of starvation
殍 centers on death from extreme hunger: dying of starvation. It is a specific and grim concept with no broader abstract extensions.
殍 combines 歹 (death) with 孚, which likely contributes the sound. The character specifically denotes death by starvation.
The death radical 歹 beside 孚 suggests a life fading away. Picture a person so starved that even the small child-like shape 子 inside 孚 has withered, leaving only death.
For ヒョウ, imagine a starving person seeing a floating hyōtan (ひょうたん, gourd) that could save them, but it's just out of reach: hyō -> ヒョウ, and the hunger leads to death.