link-local address
termnetworking
Addresses valid only on the local segment: IPv6's fe80::/10 on every interface by design, IPv4's 169.254.0.0/16 usually meaning DHCP failed.
Seeing 169.254.x.x on a workstation is a diagnosis, not an address plan.
A link-local address works only on the segment it is configured on, is never routed, and is assigned without any server. Its purpose is to give an interface a usable address when nothing else has answered, so that communication with directly attached neighbours is always possible.
In IPv4 this is the range that appears when DHCP fails, and to most people it reads purely as an error message: a machine holding one has usually not received the address it expected. In IPv6 the same idea is fundamental rather than a fallback. Every interface has a link-local address permanently, neighbour discovery runs over it, and routing protocols peer using it, which is why an IPv6 network works before any global addressing is configured at all.
That difference explains a common confusion. Seeing a link-local address on IPv4 is a symptom to investigate; seeing one on IPv6 is normal and expected. It also explains why IPv6 routing configurations reference an interface alongside the address, since the same link-local address can legitimately exist on several interfaces and is only meaningful in the context of one link.