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Pointy ears or pointed ears are a characteristic of numerous animals, at least one genetic disorder in humans, as well as a popular cliché in popular culture, particularly in the fantasy genre.
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Animals
Pointy ears is a characteristic of some animals, for example the cat, the vampire bats, civets and genets of the viverridae family, red pandas and African bush pigs.
Humans
One of the characteristics of the Williams syndrome has been described as "pointed ears".
Folklore and fiction
Pointy ears have been a characteristic of some creatures in folklore such as French croquemitaine, Brazilian curupira or Japanese earth spider. It has been a feature of characters on art as old as that of Ancient Greece and medieval Europe.
Pointy ears are common characteristic of many creatures in the fantasy genre. It's a common characteristics of races such as, among others, elves, faeries, pixies, hobbits, or orcs. They are also a characteristic of creatures from the horror genre, such as vampires.
This characteristic has been adopted into the Japanese anime and manga art style, where pointy ears are also a common trope of fantasy characters. Manga and anime elves in particular are distinguished by very prominently displayed pointed ears, often drawn larger and more distinctly visible than in the Western works.
Pointy ears have become associated with elves in Victorian literature of the 19th century. Popularization of the pointed ears as an attribute of elves has been attributed to the works of J. R. R. Tolkien and their more recent big screen interpretation, though the status of elvish ears as canon is not universally accepted by the Tolkien fandom.
Pointy ears are also found in the science fiction genre; for example among the Vulcan and Romulan races of the Star Trek universe or the Nightcrawler character from the X-Men universe.