To call it bugfix,
or to call it hotfix,
that is the question.

Are you fixing a bug that isn't causing production downtime and there's a way around it?

Or, is production unusable and this bug fix is absolutely required?

That's basically the difference.

Hotfix = bandaging that thing you merged when code reviewing and wasn't so sure what the f it does and now it's causing hell in production

Bugfix = that thing that you merged that wasn't breaks things but nobody noticed until someone complained about it

Bugfix is the fix you do to fix the bug. Hotfix is the release you do if the bugfix is needed quickly.

Bugfix gets merged only to staging/dev branch.
Hotfix gets merged to master/main and staging/dev

This infographic will help you understand: https://danielkummer.github.io/git-...

Manager: "Let's call it low prio. To the bottom of the list!"

Well bugfix is kind of pest control solution over your code and hotfix is a kind of firefighting solution over your customer's mind

hotfix goes straight to prod, it doesn't go through develop first