'Burnt'

If you tell a little 4 year-old not to play with fire, you'll probably tell him, "You'll get burnt if you keep playing with fire." The child might innocently ask what 'burnt' means. You might try to explain to him what it means by saying, "If you get burnt it will hurt and you might get a mark on your skin," or something of the such. In other words you try to teach him what 'burnt' means using words. The child might get the point that getting 'burnt' isn't good. But he still might not completely understand what it's really like. Unless and until he experiences what getting 'burnt' is, he'll never know what it is. Once he does, it won't be wrong to say that he's learned from his experience and not from your words.
*while writing A Weird School*